- 9 million voters elect members of a 90-seat legislature.
- The vote count and results will be announced on October 8.
- India's Supreme Court had set September 30 as the deadline for elections last year.
SRINAGAR: Provincial elections are being held today in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK), the first in a decade in the disputed territory.
Up to nine million registered voters are electing members of the region's 90-seat legislature in the three-phase election, with votes counted and results announced on Oct. 8.
The occupied valley — India's only Muslim-majority territory — enjoyed special status of partial autonomy until 2019, which was later revoked by the Bharatiya Janata Party government led by Narendra Modi.
The special semi-autonomous status of the IIOJK—the power enshrined in the constitution to control its affairs—meant that only those descended from the territory's residents in 1934 could vote and own property.
The elections come after India's Supreme Court last year upheld the government's decision and set a deadline of September 30 this year for local elections.
“As the first phase of the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections begins, I urge all […] “Vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy,” Modi said in a post on X.
This time, the contest is between regional parties promising to restore special status: India's main opposition party, the Congress, which has allied itself with a prominent regional group, and the BJP, which is calling for development and a permanent end to the unrest.
The legislature will have the power to debate local issues, make laws and approve decisions to govern the territory, but it cannot restore special status, as that is the responsibility of the federal government.
Around 500,000 Indian troops have been deployed in IIOJK for decades. The region has been the scene of an endless series of bans on Kashmiri parties, curfews, crackdowns and killings of civilians and freedom fighters fighting for their right to self-determination under UN resolutions.
A day earlier, the country's main opposition party, Congress, pledged to restore statehood to the disputed territory, Indian media reported.
Congress spokesperson Pawan Khera said occupied Kashmir has had its rights taken away, its statehood revoked and it has been reduced to a Union Territory.
He promised that the Congress, which is contesting the elections in alliance with the National Conference (NC), would restore the rights of occupied Jammu and Kashmir.
