Barrier-Breaking Ballot: 6 Women Candidates Vie for Assembly Seats

Srinagar, Sep 24: While the stage is set for the phase-II of Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, six female candidates are vying for five different seats while two among them are the main contenders in the Valley.
As per the details available with The Morning Kashmir, two independent candidates are among the six female candidates, who are contesting from five assembly segments, going to polls on Wednesday.

The six female candidates include Shamim Firdous of National Conference (NC) contesting from Habba Kadal seat, Asiea Naqash from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) contesting from Hazratbal, Rubina Akhter of National Loktantrik Party contesting from Habba Kadal segment and Nilofar Sajjad Gandru from Chadoora, Pinty Devi from Kalakote – Sunderbani and Diksha Kaluria from Reasi—all independent candidates.
Two among the candidates are the main contenders, who have won the previous 2014 assembly elections from the respective seats. The duo includes NC’s Shamim Firdou and PDP’s Asiea Naqash.
Shamim Firdous has won the assembly polls two times consecutively from Habba Kadal constituency in 2008 and 2014 while PDP’s Asiea Naqash emerged victorious from Hazratbal constituency in 2014.
Hazratbal, being a bastion of National Conference (NC), has remained in its kitty nine times out of 11 since 1962 and was won by PDP candidate Asiea Naqash in 2014 assembly elections.
It would be interesting to see whether the two main contenders will be able to retain their seats again in the 2024 assembly polls, going to polls on Wednesday.