Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka

Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka is an Indian politician hailing from Rayagada, Koraput. He was elected to the 17th Lok Sabha, lower house of the Parliament of India from Koraput, Odisha in the 2019 Indian general election as a member of the Indian National Congress. He retained his seat again by winning with a margin of 1,47,744 votes in the 2024 Indian general election. He is currently the only member from Odisha Congress in the Lok Sabha^[1][2][3][4]

Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka
Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka during the general election campaign 2019.
Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha
Incumbent
Assumed office 17 June 2019
Preceded by	Jhina Hikaka
Constituency	Koraput
AICC Incharge for Tripura PCC, Manipur PCC, Nagaland PCC, Sikkim PCC
Incumbent
Assumed office 14 February 2025
Preceded by	Girish Chodankar
Personal details
Born	(1979-01-01) 1 January 1979 (age 46) Rayagada, Odisha, India
Political party	Indian National Congress
Spouse	Pooja Ulaka
Residence	Rayagada
As of 13 May, 2019 Source:

Early life and education

Hailing from a politically active family of South Odisha belonging to the Jatapu tribal community, Saptagiri's father Ramachandra Ulaka was a two-time MP from Koraput, seven-time MLA from Rayagada.^[5] Saptagiri's mother Ratnamani Ulaka is a member of AICC and State vice President of Odisha Mahila Congress. Saptagiri is a software engineer by profession, as a Senior Project Manager, Infosys in the United States of America.He had also worked with top firms such as Ranbaxy, HCL Technologies etc.

Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka is also a polyglot who is fluent in Kui, Odia, English, Telugu, Hindi & German. Saptagiri Sankar Ulaka is married to Smt Pooja Ulaka who is a social activist & social entrepreneur. The couple are blessed with twins Nandini & Ramachandra Ulaka.^[6][7]

Political career

He has been instrumental in raising a voice for a High Court Bench in Undivided Koraput among many other issues that are pertinent to the welfare and development of Koraput.^[8] He has been instrumental in getting air connectivity to his Parliamentary Constituency & South Odisha at large with repeated demands in the Lok Sabha for upgradation of the existing Jeypore airstrip into a full fledged commercial airport at Jeypore city.^[9][10][11] The Jeypore airport is currently scheduled for commercial operations by June 2022.^[12]

Electoral performance

Year	Election	Party		Constituency Name	Result	Votes gained	Vote share%	Margin
2019	17th Lok Sabha		INC	Koraput	Won	3,71,129	34.36%	3,613
2024	18th Lok Sabha				Won	4,71,393	41.03%	1,47,744[13]