India: Kashmir awaits result of first vote in a decade

Votes were being counted on Tuesday to decide the makeup of the local government in the India-controlled region of Jammu-Kashmir for the first time in a decade, and the first time since the Muslim-majority state lost its semi-autonomy in 2019.

Almost 9 million people were eligible to vote, with ballots being cast between September 18 and October 1. Official data said that turnout was at 64%.

What we know about the elections

Kashmir is a contested territory, with both India and Pakistan laying claim to it. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's nationalist government split the former state into two provinces governed directly from New Delhi — Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. There were no elections in Ladakh.

Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was trailing in the assembly election in  Jammu-Kashmir. However, another local vote in the northern state of Haryana saw the BJP pull ahead as counting was ongoing.

The elections in Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir were the first since Modi's re-election in June. However, the results of the two provincial polls are unlikely to affect his central policies.

Earlier, exit polls had predicted a victory for the main opposition Indian National Congress (INC) in Haryana, while forecasting a slight advantage for Congress and its regional ally, the National Conference (NC), in Jammu and Kashmir.

The results come ahead of important elections in Maharashtra and Jharkhand states.

First election after losing statehood

The Jammu-Kashmir election is seen as a referendum on Modi's controversial 2019 decision.

Since 2019, New Delhi has been governing the province directly with centrally appointed administrators. The period has also seen a restriction on civil liberties amid opposition by the region's Muslim-majority population.

While the new regional government will have limited powers, Kashmir's full statehood remains unresolved amid ongoing tensions between India and Pakistan.

Previous elections in the region have been marked by violence, boycotts and vote-rigging. The BJP was able to come to power in a coalition with a local party following the last election in 2014, but the government collapsed in 2018 before statehood was scrapped.

Pro-independence militants have been fighting the central government since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris would favor an independent unified territory, or to join Pakistan.

ss/ab (AP, Reuters)