Sakina Itoo: To Reclaim Her Family Stronghold DH Pora (image: facebook.com/yncnoorabqd)
Senior National Conference (NC) Leader Sakina Itoo will contest from Damhal Hanjipora (DH Pora) constituency in the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections. Earlier known as Noorabad, the assembly segment changed its name to DH Pora after the delimitation exercise.
Itoo represented the DH Pora constituency twice – 1996 and 2008. During her second term, she was the only woman minister in the Omar Abdullah-led government.
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In the 2014 assembly election, Sakina Itoo was defeated by People’s Democratic Party (PDP) candidate Abdul Majeed Padder, by 3708 votes. Padder is now with the Jammu Kashmir Apni Party. Though Itoo’s defeat marked constituency’s attitude favouring PDP, she is viewed as a strong candidate for the assembly seat.
Traditionally, Noorabad is a stronghold of Itoo family. For four consecutive terms – 1972, 1977, 1983 and 1987, her father, Wali Mohammad Itoo represented the constituency. 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.
During her political career, she won twice (1996, 2008), and lost twice (2002, 2014); the upcoming polls marks 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. Itoo served as a minister handling different departments including Education, Social Welfare and Administrative Reforms, Tourism, Floriculture and Public Grievances. She has survived multiple assassination attempts in her political career.
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Aside from Sakina, other candidates in the poll fray include Gulzar Ahmed Dar (PDP), Abdul Majeed Padder (Apni Party), Mohammad Ayub Matoo (Janata Dal-United), and independent candidates Mohamad Arif Darv and Sajad Ahmed Dar.
The Damhal Hanjipora assembly constituency will go to booths in the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections on September 18.
