India has announced plans to hold important regional elections in the disputed territory of Indian-controlled Jammu and Kashmir from September 18.
The polls are the first in nearly a decade and the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the region’s special status in 2019.
The three-phase voting in 90 constituencies will end on October 1, and the counting date is scheduled for October 4.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said about 8.7 million people, including 4.26 million women, will be eligible to vote.
Parliamentary elections are usually held five years later, but political uncertainty has delayed the vote.
“After a long gap, elections are about to be held in Jammu and Kashmir,” Kumar told a press conference in Delhi on Friday.
He added that “votes are louder than bullets” in Kashmir – the region saw a historic 58.46 per cent turnout in the recent assembly elections, a jump of 30 percentage points from the voter turnout in the 2019 general elections.
The committee later posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the queues of voters during the general election “proven the will and desire of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to write their own destiny”.
Friday’s announcement comes just months after India’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s decision to abrogate Article 370 of the constitution, which gave the region sweeping autonomy. The court also ordered parliamentary elections to be held by September 30.
While revoking Kashmir’s special status, the government also divided the state of more than 12 million people into two federally administered territories – Ladakh and Ladakh. and Jammu and Kashmir.
The withdrawal was one of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s 2019 poll promises, a decision that has made the party deeply unpopular in the state.
In March, the Prime Minister visited the region for the first time since 2019 and said he was “trying to win your hearts”. He also announced projects worth 64 billion rupees ($774 million; £607 million) to support local agriculture and tourism.
But analysts and local politicians say anger against the BJP remains.
After India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947, the Himalayan region became divided.
An armed rebellion against Delhi’s rule in the Indian-administered region has claimed tens of thousands of lives since 1989 and there is a heavy military presence in the area.
Delhi accuses Islamabad of harboring militants and undermining peace in the region, a charge Pakistan denies.
Kashmir continues to be plagued by violence. The recent surge in radical activity—which appears to have Transfer from Kashmir Valley The relatively calm Jammu region – is particularly worrisome.
In June, militants opened fire on a bus in Reasi, where the bridge is located, killing nine Hindu pilgrims and injuring dozens more. One of the deadliest armed attacks recent years. There have also been several attacks against troops and civilians.
