Delhi holds Kashmir council vote despite lockdown and boycott

SRINAGAR: Village council elections were being conducted yesterday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, but the absence of mainstream local politicians leaves worry the polls will install puppets of the central Hindu-nationalist government that revoked the disputed region’s semi-autonomous status in early August.

Officials were hoping the elections of leaders for more than 300 councils will lend credibility amid a political vacuum and contend they will represent local interests better than former corrupt state-level government officials.

But the elections are being boycotted by most political parties, including those whose leaders had been sympathetic to the central government but are now in makeshift jails or under house arrest. India’s main opposition Congress party is boycotting as well, possibly allowing a clean sweep for Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

The BJP has a very small base in the Kashmir valley, the heart of a decadesold anti-India insurgency in the region of about 12 million people.

Predominantly Muslim Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan, with both countries claiming the region in its entirety. Insurgents in the Indiancontrolled portion demand independence or a merger with Pakistan.

In the elections, members of the more than 300 Block Development

Councils formed last year will choose chairs. Each block comprises a cluster of villages across Jammu and Kashmir, a state that India’s Parliament downgraded in August to a federal territory, a change that takes effect on Oct 31.

About 1,000 people are running. In at least 25 councils, candidates are running unopposed.

Most of the candidates and thousands of council members, the electorate for yesterday’s vote, have lived for months in hotels in Srinagar, the region’s main city, over security concerns. In the past, militants fighting against Indian rule have targeted poll contestants.

Officials tout the councils, which will be responsible for allocating government funds, as grassroots democracy.

But observers say the system lacks legitimacy in Kashmir.

Political scientist Dr Noor Ahmed Baba said the exercise is an “important layer of democracy’’ but questioned conducting it in “extremely difficult and abnormal times’.’

“When most people are bothered about their basic freedoms and livelihood, facing crushing restrictions, you have these elections,’’ Dr Baba said. “This is like completing a formality.’’

The council elections held last December were boycotted by separatist leaders and rebel groups who challenge India’s sovereignty over Kashmir.