Votes are being counted in the election for a truncated government in Indian-controlled Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Votes were counted Tuesday in the latest election a largely powerless local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the first since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.

Thousands more police and paramilitary soldiers patrolled streets and guarded 28 counting centers as officials counted votes. A final result was expected to be announced by the region’s election office later on Tuesday.

Almost 8.9 million people were eligible to vote in the election, which began on September 18th And completed on October 1st. According to official data, the overall participation in all three phases was 64%.

It was the first such vote in a decade and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government the long-standing semi-autonomy of the Muslim-majority region was abolished in 2019.

The In an unprecedented move, the former state was downgraded and divided in two centrally governed Union Territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Both are governed directly by New Delhi through its appointed administrators along with unelected bureaucrats and security forces. The move – largely was well received in India and among Modi supporters – was largely rejected in Kashmir as an attack on its identity and autonomy, fearing it would pave the way for it demographic changes in the region.

The The region has been on the edge ever since with limited civil liberties and a gagged media.

India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the entire area. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Initial results may provide an indication of the direction of the vote. However, polls by major television networks over the last two days projected the regional National Conference would become the largest single party, followed by Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Such a mandate is likely to be seen as a referendum against Modi’s 2019 move.

The National Conference fought the election in alliance with India’s largest opposition party, the Congress.

Their coalition may still need the support of a few seats to form the government, which is likely to come from the Peoples Democratic Party, another Kashmiri group. Five seats are appointed and 90 are elected, so a party or coalition would need at least 48 of the total 95 seats to form a government.

The vote will allow Kashmir to have its own truncated government and regional legislature, called an assembly, rather than being directly under New Delhi’s rule.

However, there will be one limited transfer of power from New Delhi to the Assembly for Kashmir remains a “union territory” – directly controlled by the federal government – ​​with the Indian Parliament as the main legislature. Kashmir’s statehood must be restored so that the new government has similar powers to other states in India.

The last general elections in the region were held in 2014, after which the BJP governed for the first time in a coalition with the local Peoples Democratic Party. But The government collapsed in 2018after the BJP withdrew from the coalition.

In the past, elections have been marked by violence, boycotts and vote-rigging, even as India has hailed them as a victory over separatism.

Militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of unifying the territory either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists that Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the accusation and many Kashmiris believe it is a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government troops have been killed in the conflict.

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This version corrects that there are 95 seats, of which 90 are elected and five are appointed, and 48 would constitute a majority.

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