India-controlled Kashmir votes in the second phase of polls to elect local government
Residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir have begun casting votes in the second phase of a staggered election for a local government
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Under elaborate security, residents in Indian-controlled Kashmir began casting votes Wednesday in the second phase of a staggered election for a local government, which for the first time in decades is not boycotted by separatists.
It's the first vote since Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.
“Our first and foremost issue is restoration of (the region’s) semi-autonomy and statehood. That is why I am voting,” said Mehraj Ud Din Malik, a voter in Srinagar. “Other developmental works will follow as they are our basic rights.”
The former state was downgraded and divided into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Both are ruled directly by New Delhi, allowing it to appoint administrators to run them along unelected bureaucrats and security setup. The region has since been on edge with civil liberties curbed and media gagged.
