Like father, like daughter

> A law graduate, 56-year-old Mehbooba took a plunge into mainstream politics of the state in 1996 by joining Congress, along with her father, at a time when militancy was at its peak. > A mother of two daughters, she won her first assembly election as a Congress candidate from her home segment of Bijbehara. > She then played a key role in her father’s victory as Congress candidate in Lok Sabha elections of 1998 > The father-daughter duo floated their regional party - the PDP - in 1999 > In the 2002 Assembly polls, termed as watershed in the state, the PDP bagged 16 seats > In 2004, Mehbooba contested parliamentary polls from south Kashmir and won her first Lok Sabha election. > In 2008 assembly elections, she won from Wachi segment of Shopian district of south Kashmir. > Her party increased the tally to 21 seats but preferred to stay in the opposition.

> Mehbooba consolidated her party’s support base in the years spent in opposition, highlighting the alleged failures of the NC-led coalition government. > In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the party won all the three seats in the Valley. > In 2015, the PDP emerged as the single largest party in the assembly elections bagging 28 seats, paving the way for her father to become chief minister for the second time > Following her father’s death on January 7, the state was put under the governor’s rule