Sakina Itoo

Sakina Masood Itoo (born 5 December 1970 ) is an Indian politician affiliated to the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference. She is currently the Cabinet minister for Education, Health & Medical Education and Social Welfare in the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. She has served as cabinet minister of erstwhile state of the Jammu and Kashmir, holding portfolios including Social Welfare, Education, Tourism, Floriculture, Public Works, Public Health Engineering, and ARI Trainings. She was elected to the legislative assembly for the first time in 1996 at the age of 26, and received the "Best MLA Award" in 2012 for her contribution to her constituency.

Biography Itoo was born to Wali Mohammad Itoo, former revenue minister of Jammu and Kashmir and speaker of Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly, on 5 December 1970 in Kulgam, Jammu and Kashmir. Later, she started her MBBS practice, professional degree in medicine, but left midway amidst her father's killing in 1994 and subsequently entered politics.

Career During her political career, Itoo served as a minister in several departments such as deputy minister for Education in 1996, state minister for Social Welfare, and Public Works. Later, she was appointed a minister of Tourism and served the department until 2002. In 2002, she lost an assembly constituency election and was later nominated as a member of Legislative Council by the party in 2004. The video was reported as a violation of the Model Code of Conduct to the Election Commission of India by the opposition party. Omar Abdullah and the National Conference defended Itoo, stating that the video had been recorded before the Model Code of Conduct came into effect. However, she lost again in 2014 against Abdul Majid Padder of PDP, who later joined the Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party.

In 2024 assembly elections, Sakeena won from the Damhal Hanjipora assembly constituency and defeated Gulzar Ahmad Dar of PDP by a margin of 17,449 votes. On 18 October 2024, following an order issued by lieutenant governor Sinha to allocate portfolios to council of ministers on the advice of chief minister, Sakeena was given the charge of Health and Medical Education, School Education, Higher Education, and Social Welfare. Electoral performance