Indian Kashmir headed for polls after a decade of turmoil and direct rule

Pratap Chakravarty

24 August 2024 at 2:59 am·1-min read

India will hold the first legislative elections in a decade in the restive region of Kashmir, which lost its semi-autonomy and came under direct federal rule in 2019.

The elections, scheduled in three stages starting on 18 September, will allow nine million voters to elect representatives to the 90-member state legislature. Results will be announced on 4 October, said chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

“After a long gap, elections are due and will be held in Jammu and Kashmir,” Kumar said in Delhi.

The polls come after a prolonged period of uncertainty, following the region's 2019 loss of statehood and the special privileges guaranteed under Article 370 of the Indian constitution.

The announcement of the elections has sparked a significant administrative reshuffle.

Approximately 200 officials, including Kashmir's police and intelligence chiefs, were transferred after the election date was confirmed on 16 August.

Opposition parties allege the reshuffle could benefit India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the upcoming vote.

“We are writing to the Election Commission to investigate these transfers in Jammu and Kashmir,” said Omar Abdullah, a former state chief minister.

The elections are being held after the Supreme Court set a 30 September deadline for the vote in Kashmir, where an insurgency has claimed around 80,000 lives since 1989.

“That is our dream."

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