SRINAGAR - Indian-administered Kashmir began voting on Wednesday in the first local elections since the cancellation of its special semi-autonomous status sparked fury in the troubled Himalayan territory, which is also claimed by Pakistan.
Many in the disputed Muslim-majority territory of 8.7 million registered voters remain bitter over the 2019 order by the Hindu-nationalist government of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to impose control from New Delhi.
A federally appointed governor has controlled the territory since, with the first regional assembly election in a decade viewed by many as being more about exercising their democratic rights than practical policies.
Voters queued up as polls opened in the cool mountain air of the main city Srinagar in the three-phased elections, with voting staggered geographically due to security arrangements and logistical challenges in the mountainous region.
"Our problems have piled up," said retired government officer Mukhtar Ahmad Tantray, 65, in Srinagar. "The reins (of power)... were handed over to the bureaucracy."
About 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in the region, battling a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed, including dozens this year.
Turnout is expected to be high, unlike in past elections when separatists opposed to Indian rule boycotted polls, demanding the independence of Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
"All the politics revolves around the dispute," said trader Navin Kotwal, 73, from Doda in Jammu district.
"All I care about is that we want to be governed by educated representatives who can solve our problems."
Vigorous election campaigns have featured unusually open debates but key decisions will remain in New Delhi's hands, including security and appointing Kashmir's governor.
Delhi will also have the power to override legislation passed by the 90-seat assembly.
"People can go and plead with their local representative," Tantray said. "Even if they cannot do anything, they can at least raise the issues."
The last round of voting will be held on October 2 and results are expected six days later.
- 'Better than nothing' -
The territory, officially titled Jammu and Kashmir, is split.
One part is the overwhelmingly Muslim Kashmir Valley. Another is the Hindu-majority Jammu district, geographically divided by mountains to the south.
A third section, the high-altitude ethnically Tibetan Ladakh region, bordering China, was carved into a separate federal territory in 2019.
Some of the worst violence this year has been in Jammu, where Modi campaigned for votes on Saturday, vowing that "terrorism is on its last legs" in a reference to rebel groups fighting Indian rule.
Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) claim that the changes to the territory's governance have brought a new era of peace to Kashmir and rapid economic growth.
The implementation of those changes in 2019 was accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long internet and communications blackout.
While this is the first ballot for the local assembly since 2014, voters took part in national elections in June, when Modi won a third term in power.
Farmer Syed Ali Choudhary, 38, from Jammu district, said a local elected government "will be a big relief after so many years", while acknowledging the assembly's powers will "be much less" than before.
"Something is better than nothing," he said.
"When we had a local government thousands of people could be seen visiting the secretariat every day. Now you hardly see any because people are upset."
Many Kashmiris are resentful of the restrictions on civil liberties imposed after 2019, and the BJP is only fielding candidates in a minority of seats concentrated in Hindu-majority areas.
Critics accuse the BJP of encouraging a surge of independent candidates in Muslim-majority areas to split the vote.
A lack of jobs is a key issue. The area has an unemployment rate of 18.3 percent, more than double the national average, according to government figures in July.
Small-scale manufacturing suffered after tax barriers ended with the territory's changed status.
Critics say the central government has awarded major contracts, such as construction and mineral extraction, to firms outside the territory.
"My biggest concern is unemployment," said Madiha, 27, a jobless graduate who gave only one name. "The cost of living has reached the sky."
by Parvaiz Bukhari