Sumitra Mahajan, Indian politician, 16th Speaker of the Lok Sabha
Sumitra Mahajan (née Sathe; born: 12 April 1943) is an Indian politician who was the Speaker of Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019. She belongs to Bharatiya Janata Party. She represented the Indore constituency of Madhya Pradesh from 1989 to 2019 as the longest serving Woman Member of Parliament, and then retired from electoral politics.
She also served for as a Union Minister of State from 1999 to 2004, holding the portfolios for Human Resource Development, Communications and Information Technology and Petroleum and Natural Gas. She also held position of Chairperson of Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment (2004-2009) and Standing Committee on Rural Development (2009-2014). She was the eldest and seniormost among woman Members of Parliament in the 16th Lok Sabha. She is the second woman after Meira Kumar to be elected as the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. She was awarded India's third highest civilian award the Padma Bhushan in 2021.