BARAMULLA: Residents of India-held Kashmir on Tuesday voted in the third and final round of polls to elect its first government since the occupied territory was brought under New Delhi’s direct control.

More than half a million Indian troops are stationed around held Kashmir and Tuesday’s vote saw a heavy security presence, with rifle-toting soldiers seen guarding polling stations in Baramulla district.

PM Narendra Modi’s government cancelled the disputed region’s partial autonomy in 2019, a sudden decision accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long communication blackout.

Since then, the Indian-occupied territory has not had an elected government, and has been ruled instead by a federally appointed governor.

A high unemployment rate and anger at the 2019 changes have animated campaigning, and local parties have promised to fight for the restoration of occupied Kashmir’s autonomy.

“I voted so that there is some relief for us. Modi doesn’t agree with the views of Kashmiri people,” Baramulla local Abdul Rahim Rah said outside a polling station.

More than 55 per cent of eligible voters cast ballots in the first two rounds of the poll. Prior elections saw lower turnouts after boycotts called by anti-India groups.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claims the 2019 changes to governance have delivered a new era of peace to held Kashmir and rapid economic growth. That is disputed by homegrown political parties, which say the accompanying security clampdown brought a drastic curtailment of civil liberties.

While the BJP has fielded candidates in all the constituencies of occupied Jammu, it is contesting only about a third of the seats elsewhere.

Regardless of the outcome, key decisions about occupied Kash­mir’s governance will remain in the hands of Delhi, where Modi’s government can use its parliamentary majority to override any legislation passed by the 90-seat assembly.

Election results will be announced on Oct 8.

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2024