Sakina Itoo Retains DH Pora, Her Family Stronghold
National Conference leader Sakina Itoo secured victory from DH Pora, her family stronghold. She defeated PDP candidate Gulzar Ahmad Dar by a margin of 17, 449 votes. Dar, PDP’s new face was DDC member.
During her political career, she won twice (1996, 2008), and lost twice (2002, 2014); the current polls marked her fifth election. When she won her first election in 1996, she was just 26 years old and was the youngest member of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly. During her second term, she was the only woman minister in the Omar Abdullah-led government. Itoo handled ministerial portfolios including Education, Social Welfare and Administrative Reforms, Tourism, Floriculture and Public Grievances. She has survived multiple assassination attempts in her political career.
Her 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. He was considered as a close associate of NC founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. In 1995, he was shot dead by militants in Jammu. The tragedy posed Sakina to quit her medical education midway and enter into politics.
Aside from Itoo and Dar, Mohammad Arif Dar of the Awami Itihad Party (AIP) also contested from DH Pora.
Earlier known as Noorabad, the assembly segment changed its name to DH Pora after the delimitation exercise. Traditionally, the seat has been held as a NC bastion. 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.
