Though Sabina is a debutant in politics, her family members have been traditional Congress supporters. When ward 138 was declared reserved for women, Sabina volunteered to contest as a Congress candidate, but the local Congress MLA Khalek Molla, who wanted his wife Tabsira Begum to contest, would have none of it. “He threatened me to withdraw even after my name was declared,” says Sabina, who was elated when Mamata

Banerjee selected her as the youngest candidate from the Trinamool Congress.

Though a novice in mainstream politics, Sabina has some experience of politics from her English (honours) days at New Alipore College, where she contested and won elections of her college union, which happens to be Trinamool-controlled.

Issues in ward no 138 are similar— bad roads, shortage of drinking water, drainage problems and lack of health centres. “We just don’t get drinking water here. We have to drink tap water. Nowadays, water comes once a day, but it’s is a mere trickle. Also, the one corporation vehicle that comes carrying water is absolutely insufficient for the entire locality’s needs,” said Sabina.

If she wins, providing drinking water would be her first priority, along with setting up proper infrastructure in local hospitals, which are currently either almost-dysfunctional or in a shambles. “Garden Estate General Hospital, located nearby, has beds, but no doctors,” says one of Sabina’s neighbours gathered at her place.

Slums in ward no 138 demand a lot of attention, too. Sabina complains that slum-dwellers of the Keshtopur Jute Mill area have been dislocated from their homes for over a year without being rehabilitated. A few of them have been rehabilitated to places far away.

Water-logging is another concern. “Even if it rains for half-an-hour, streets get waterlogged. I was a CPM supporter, but the lack of any work for the last 15 years have turned me and many others averse to them. I am beside any initiative Sabina wants to undertake,” said a middle-aged Sheikh Nasiruddin, Sabina’s immediate neighbour.