DH Pora: Will Split In PDP Votes Favour NC's Sakina Itoo

Previously known as Noorabad, the constituency changed name to Damhal-Hanjipora or DH Pora following a delimitation exercise. Traditionally, the seat has been held as a National Conference (NC) stronghold, but the current competitive nature posits challenges equally in favour or against the party.

The contest is mainly between veteran NC leader and former minister Sakina Itoo and PDP’s new candidate and DDC member Gulzar Ahmad Dar. However, with the presence of the party’s last candidate and former MLA Abdul Majid Padder in the poll fray, it anticipates chances of PDP votes being divided. Padder is now contesting as an Apni Party candidate.

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In the 2014 Assembly polls, Padder won the seat by defeating Sakina Itoo by a margin of 3708 votes. Itoo won the seat twice (1996, 2008) and lost twice (2002, 2014). Meanwhile, his father, the late Wali Mohammad Itoo, represented the constituency for four consecutive terms: 1972, 1977, 1983, and 1987. Before that, Congress’s Abdul Aziz Zargar won the seat in 1967, and NC’s Ghulam Hassan Khan won in 1962.

Wali Itoo was considered a close associate of NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. When the militancy broke in 1995, he was shot dead by militants in Jammu. The tragedy posed Sakina to quit her medical education midway and enter politics. The upcoming polls mark Itoo’s fifth election since 1996.

Padder’s win in 2014 signals a great political shift in the region, signaling a change in voters’ sentiment and underlining the considerable influence PDP holds in the constituency. According to political experts, Padder maintains a strong vote share in the constituency, which makes the contest tough for Itoo as well as for PDP candidate Gulzar Dar. Even though Dar is a new candidate, he is expected to be a strong contender for the seat. His entry could substantially influence the outcome, considering the age-old rivalry between NC and PDP in the region.

Apart from them, Mohammad Arif Dar of the Awami Itihad Party (AIP) is also contesting from DH Pora.

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DH Pora, known for higher turnouts is the remotest of the three Kulgam constituencies. In the 2022 delimitation, the assembly segment has been allotted DH Pora and Pahloo Tehsils.

DH Pora is among the 24 constituencies going to polls in the first phase of Jammu and Kashmir Assembly polls on September 18.