The first phase of the Legislative Assembly election in India’s Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), a region bordering Pakistan that has experienced decades of violence and unrest, began on Wednesday. This is the first polling since New Delhi abolished Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which had granted a certain level of autonomy to J&K.
Approximately 9 million registered voters will participate in electing members to the 90-seat legislature over three phases, concluding on October 1. The results will be announced on October 8. The Muslim-majority Kashmir region has 47 assembly seats, while the adjacent Hindu-majority Jammu region has 43 seats. A total of 219 candidates are competing in the first phase.
According to the Indian Election Commission, the overall voter turnout during Wednesday’s polling was around 58%, with approximately 2.3 million people expected to cast their votes.
As reported earlier this month by RT, the election has been highly anticipated by the local population. The decision in 2019 by the government of Narendra Modi to revoke Article 370 stripped the region of its statehood, converting it into a union territory to be largely governed at federal level.
Claimed by both India and Pakistan, Kashmir has been a contentious issue between the two nuclear-armed nations. Diplomatic relations deteriorated in 2019 when Islamabad downgraded ties with New Delhi and suspended the Indian High Commissioner. Last year, Pakistan rejected the Indian Supreme Court’s ruling that upheld the abrogation of Article 370.
The previous J&K government was a coalition between the regional Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the federally ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which collapsed in 2018.
Key players in the current election include the PDP, led by Mehbooba Mufti, and the National Conference (NC), headed by Omar Abdullah. Both leaders are former chief ministers of the region. The NC has formed an alliance with India’s main opposition party, the Congress.
The BJP is contesting the elections but many analysts doubt the party’s chances, as it has a stronghold in Jammu it has a weak political base in the valley. Smaller regional parties have also emerged as significant forces, according to reports in Indian media. Days before the polls, the Awami Ittehad Party (AIP), led by the controversial Sheikh Abdul Rashid (also known as Engineer Rashid), formed an alliance with former members of Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI), a party banned in 2019 by the Indian government under anti-terrorism laws. Engineer Rashid was jailed for five years for allegedly funding separatists in the valley and was released on interim bail last week to campaign.