After a twist of fate, Tribal Odisha woman becomes the youngest MP in the country

After winning the Lok Sabha seat from Keonjhar in Odisha, Mhandrani Murmu, a tribal woman, made history. At the age of 25 years and 11 months, she became the youngest Member of Parliament (MP).

After graduating from B.Tech, Murmu, an engineering graduate, was just another girl looking for a job. In a twist of fate, however, Naveen Patnaik’s Biju Janata Dal (BJD) nominated Murmu of Tikargumura village in Keonjhar district as a candidate.

In order to win the Keonjhar Lok Sabha seat, she defeated two-time BJP MP Ananta Nayak with a margin of 67,822 votes. Earlier, the youngest member of the 16th Lok Sabha was Dushyant Chautala from Hisar Constituency in Haryana, the grandson of well-known politician Om Prakash Chautala.

“I was in a search for a job after completing my engineering degree. I had never thought that I would enter politics and become an MP. My nomination was unexpected and came out of the blue,” said Chandrani.

Murmu completed her schooling from NS Police high school in Keonjhar and from Naidu classes in Bhubaneswar. She has also obtained a B.Tech degree from SOA University. Chandrani Murmu won the Keonjhar Lok Sabha seat with over five lakh votes.