The recently concluded assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir have resulted in the election of three women among the 90 members, marking the first such election in a decade. The candidates include Shamima Firdous and Sakina Itoo from the National Conference and Shagun Parihar from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, their presence accounts for only 3.33 percent of female representation in the newly formed assembly.
This election cycle saw an increase in female participation, with as many as 41 women candidates contesting for seats, compared to just 24 in the 2014 elections. The National Conference (NC) and Indian National Congress (INC) alliance emerged victorious with a combined total of 48 seats.
Notably, the coalition managed to elect only two Hindu candidates from the 30 they fielded, while the BJP secured 29 seats, comprising 28 Hindus and one Sikh. None of the Muslim candidates from the BJP, including two former ministers, were able to secure a win.
Shagun Parihar, a 29-year-old candidate from the BJP, triumphed in the Kishtwar constituency, winning by a narrow margin of 521 votes against former minister Sajjad Ahmad Kichloo from the National Conference. Parihar, who holds an MTech in electrical power systems and was pursuing her PhD while preparing for the J&K Public Service Commission examination, proved her mettle in this high-stakes electoral battle.
Shamima Firdous, the women's wing president of the National Conference, secured a resounding victory by defeating BJP's Ashok Kumar Bhat by a significant margin of 9,538 votes. Firdous received a total of 12,437 votes, marking her return to the Habbakadal seat, which she previously held from 2008 to 2014.
Sakina Itoo, a former minister and senior leader of the National Conference, also had a noteworthy win from the DH Pora assembly segment in South Kashmir's Kulgam district. She garnered an impressive 36,623 votes, defeating her nearest rival, Gulzar Ahmed Dar of the Peoples Democratic Party, by a margin of 17,449 votes.
