Only three women won JK Polls

Srinagar, Dec 29: Voters of Jammu Kashmir seem to have neglected the women candidates. Out of 87 seats in Jammu Kashmir polls, only three women could secure seats. People's Democratic Party(PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti is the one. The other two women are Sakina Itoo and Shamima Firdous, both National Conference, who won from Noorabad and Habba Kadal constituencies respectively.

Mehbooba Mufti, an MP, humbled National Conference's Hussain Gania by a margin of 8,000 votes from Wacchi seat in South Kashmir. Mufti, the PDP stalwart had wom the 2002 assembly poll from Phalagam.

Next time, she stood from Anantnag Lok Sabha seat and emerged triumphant. Itoo, a minister in the Farooq Abdullah govt in 1996, defeated PDP's Abdul Aziz Zargar, also an ex-minister, by 4355 votes. Firdous, the third woman to enter the House, edged past BJP'S H L Chatta by a margin of 1710 votes former Habba Kadal, a bastion of displaced Kashmiri Pandits.

64 women tried their fortune in the assembly elections. However, only 3 could make it. Shabnum Gani Lone, daughter of slain Hurriyat Leader Abdul Gani also stood but to see the defeat. She contested as an Independent from Kupwara seat, failed to cash on the popularity of her father and lost to NC leader Saifullah Mir.

ANI