Rajkanya Barua is 'Femina Miss India' from East

Kolkata: Rajkanya Barua has been adjudged the winner of Fbb Femina Miss India Kolkata 2016 after piping to the post two other contestants in the final round. Rajkanya, a young student, told PTI after winning the crown, "I idolise all previous Miss India contest winners and not any particular one."

Tollywood heroine Koel Mallik, 'Nirbasito' director Churni Ganguly, designers Dev and Neel were among the judges at the glittering programme held on Thursday. Asked what they looked for among the contestants, Koel said "Confidence and the ability to realise the dream. All the five girls in the final round were the real winners and equals in that sense."

The five Fbb Femina Miss India finalists- East were Kasturi, Anindita, Athya Niraj and Sushmita Roy and Rajkanya. Indian pop icon Usha Uthup, who belted out popular Hindi numbers in between ramp shows, said she was astounded by the confidence and poise of the contestants.

Sushmita Roy, who was the first runners up, said having lost her father years' back she wanted to bring him back if she was granted one wish to be met by God. The winner would now be vying for the Miss India crown at the final round in Mumbai. The three were chosen from five who were again picked from 14 finalists, all looking gorgeous in cocktail dresses by Komal Sood.

This year the pageant will 18 cities They are Hyderabad, Lucknow, Jaipur, Indore, Chandigarh, Dehradun, Ahmedabad, Goa, Nagpur, Pune, Guwahati, Bhubaneshwar, Bhopal and Chennai with 3 regional finals in Delhi, Bangalore and Kolkata (for East), the organisers said.