For the first time in three decades, Kashmiri Pandit Woman to contest J&K Assembly Polls

SRINAGAR: An election of firsts in Jammu and Kashmir is set to see another – a woman Kashmiri Pandit will be contesting the Assembly polls for the first time in three decades.

Daisy Raina, who used to work at a private company in Delhi and has been a sarpanch of Frisal village in Pulwama, is the lone candidate fielded by the Republican Party of India (Athawale), which is an ally of the BJP as part of the NDA alliance.

Ms Raina, who will be contesting from the Rajpora Assembly constituency in Pulwama and is one of only nine women contesting the J&K polls, said she decided to take the plunge because she was forced to do so by youth, who wanted her to be their voice.

“The youth forced me to contest and asked me to ensure that their voice reaches the J&K Assembly. I was working here as a sarpanch and, on the side, I would meet young people, hear them out and try and understand their problems. Our youth have been suffering despite not being guilty of anything. Young people born in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s have seen only bullets,” Ms Raina told NDTV in Hindi.

Ramdas Athawale had visited the Union Territory recently and said that statehood should be restored, and when Ms Raina was asked whether that was when it was decided that she would contest the Assembly elections, she answered in the negative.

“I had not even thought of contesting the elections. Young people asked me to become the chief minister for one day, saying that I could fix Pulwama,” she said.

Apart from the other problems faced by residents, Pulwama has been a hotbed of terrorists and the site of the 2019 attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed.

To a question on whether she thought Pulwama had an unsavoury reputation, the Republican Party of India (Athawale) leader said, “I don’t think so. Work is going on well. All my work is getting done… If there is a problem, we have created it.”

Ms Raina emphasised that she has experienced no difficulties despite not having many people from her community living in the region.

“When I came here to work, I used to move around in Pulwama without any security. I did not have any personal security officers (PSOs). Some people kept PSOs but I did not. I worked here for years and even established a Shivling in Pulwama. Muslims asked me to do so because I had got a wazukhana (ablution pond) constructed and did many other things for them. They said Hindus would get angry if I did not do anything for that community as well,” she said.

Ms Raina worked in New Delhi and then got elected unopposed as a sarpanch in 2020.

Jammu and Kashmir will see its first election in nearly 10 years as well as its first as a Union Territory after it was stripped of its special status under Article 370 in 2019. Voting will be conducted for the UT’s 90 seats in three phases between September 18 and October 1. Counting will take place on October 8. (NDTV)