Srinagar: The upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections are set to witness a historic moment as a female Kashmiri Pandit will contest the elections for the first time in 30 years. Desi Raina, who previously worked in a private company in Delhi and served as the Sarpanch of the village of Firsal in Pulwama, is the sole candidate from the Republican Party of India (Athawale). This party is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) within the NDA coalition.
Raina, who will contest from the Rajpora assembly constituency, is one of only nine women participating in the Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections. She decided to run for office after being urged by the youth to bring their voices to the assembly.
Raina told NDTV in Hindi, “The youth urged me to enter the elections, saying that their voices should reach the assembly. I was working as a Sarpanch and also met with the youth to understand their problems. Our youth have been facing difficulties for years without committing any crimes. Those born in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s have only seen bullets.”
Ramdas Athawale recently visited the Union Territory and stated that the situation in the state needs to be restored. When asked if it was then decided that she would run for the assembly elections, Raina denied it, saying, “I had never thought about contesting the elections. The youth asked me to become the Chief Minister for a day, saying that I could improve Pulwama.”
Pulwama, where Raina is contesting, has been a stronghold of terrorists and was the site of the 2019 attack in which 40 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed. When asked if she thinks Pulwama has a negative image, Raina responded, “I don’t think so. Work is being done properly. Everything is happening… If there is a problem, we are the ones who have created it.”
Raina emphasized that she did not face any difficulties, despite her community being a minority in the area.
“When I came here to work, I used to roam in Pulwama without security. I didn’t have a personal security officer. Some people had PSOs, but I did not. I worked here for years and even established a Shivling in Pulwama. The Muslims asked me to do this because I also built a Wazu-Khana (ablution pond) and did several other things for them. They said that if I didn’t do anything for the community, Hindus would be angry,” she said.
Raina worked in Delhi and was elected as Sarpanch unopposed in 2020. Jammu and Kashmir will see its first elections in nearly a decade, and this will be the first time it will conduct elections as a Union Territory, following the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019. Voting will take place in three phases from September 18 to October 1, with counting scheduled for October 8.
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