Nagaland BJP leader S Phangnon Konyak after taking oath as Rajya Sabha MP at Parliament House, during the second part of Budget Session of Parliament, in New Delhi on April 4, 2022. (PTI Photo)
Morung Express News
Dimapur | April 4
S Phangnon Konyak, Nagaland’s first woman Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha and second woman ever to be elected as legislator from the State, took oath in the Upper House of the Parliament on April 4.
She took the oath with along with five other newly-elected Rajya Sabha MPs on Saturday. The other members were Pabitra Margherita (BJP, Assam); Rwngwra Narzary (UPPL, Assam); Jebi Mather Hisham (Congress, Kerala); Sandosh Kumar (CPI, Kerala); and A A Rahim (CPI-M, Kerala).
Before taking their seat in the House, every member of the Rajya Sabha is required to take oath before the President or some person appointed in that behalf by him, as per a PTI report.
On March 24, Phangnon representing the Bhartiya Janata Party was declared elected ‘uncontested’ for the lone Rajya Sabha seat from Nagaland after the last hour for withdrawal of candidature.
With this, she became second woman ever from the State to be elected to either House of the Parliament or the State Assembly.
Before her, late Rano M Shaiza was the only woman parliamentarian/ state legislators from the Nagaland. She was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1977.
After the declaration, Phangnon told The Morung Express that she would used the historic mandate and platform bestowed upon her responsibly to highlight many issues pertaining to the state.
Specifically on women empowerment, she then added that an utmost priority would be to work towards putting a woman representative in the Nagaland State Assembly.
The NLA is yet to elect a woman representative.
Phangnon did her schooling from Holy Cross Higher Secondary School, Dimapur and later completed Master of Arts in English from Daulat Ram College, under University of Delhi in 2002.
An activist as a student, after her masters, she was involved with a community-based organisation after her studies. She joined the BJP in 2017 and was heading the Party’s State Mahila Morcha as the President since 2020, before her move to New Delhi.
