At a glance: Sumitra Mahajan, from 'municipal corporator' to 'Lok Sabha speaker'

New Delhi: Sumitra Mahajan, veteran BJP leader, has been unanimously elected as the Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha.Very little has been heard and written about this dynamic lady who got her name included in the Guinness Book of World Records. Sumitra Mahajan is an eight time BJP MP whose journey from a ‘Corporator' to ‘Lok Sabha Speaker' has been truly remarkable.Sumitra Mahajan was born on 12th April 1943 in Chiplun of Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra. She was married to Late Jayant Mahajan and has two sons.People lovingly call her ‘tai' which mean elder sister. Sumitra Mahajan is soft-spoken. In the present Lok Sabha, she is the eldest and senior- most among women Members of Parliament .Sumitra Mahajan is the second woman after, Meira Kumar to be elected as Lok Sabha Speaker.Sumitra began her political career as a municipal corporator in 1982 at the age of 39. Then she went on to become the deputy mayor.She was a Minister of State in the Atal Behari Vajpayee cabinet from 1999 to 2004, holding different portfolios of Human Resources, Communications and IT and Petroleum and Natural Gas.A lawyer-turned-politician, Mahajan is known for her trademark simplicity, honesty and clean image besides her impeccable winning record.As an active parliamentarian, she has not only headed important committees, but has also been a keen debater and avid questioner inside the House, often seen putting ministers on the mat with her calm but firm interventions.The mild-mannered Mahajan has over the years emerged as a force to reckon with in Indore where she never lost since she first became an MP in 1989 and a generation of opposition leaders have been waiting to trounce her. She, however, had lost the Indore Assembly election thrice before becoming an MP.Mahajan won her Lok Sabha seat for the eighth consecutive time in this election by an impressive margin of 4.67 lakh votes.Within the BJP, Mahajan has grown from being President of the BJP Mahila Morcha in Madhya Pradesh in 1990 to being the National General Secretary in 1998.As a Parliamentarian, Mahajan has been a member of various Committees including those on Human Resource Development and its Sub-Committee on Value-based Education, Convenor of the Sub-Committee on Drug Control, Joint Committee on the Empowerment of Women and its Sub-Committee on Appraisal of Laws relating to Women-Criminal Laws.She has also been Chairperson of the Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment as well as of the Standing Committee on Rural Development.Her other interests include Marathi literature, poetry and drama. She is associated with many cultural organisations. The BJP leader is also active in the area of women's welfare and social reforms.Describing her assignment as glorious and challenging, Mahajan assured members that she would not let them down and try to do justice by fulfilling their expectations.Expressing gratitude to members for electing her unanimously, she said the country's 1.25 billion people have expressed their faith in the elected members with the expectation that their hopes and aspirations will be fulfilled.Her husband wanted to see her as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh some day after Sumitra defeated Congress candidate Madhukar Verma in 1996 Lok Sabha Elections. He would have been extremely proud to see her rise to this position.We wish her all the very best as Sumitra takes on a tedious task that involves taking all the parties together and establishing peace and harmony in the Parliament.