Kashmir holds elections despite lockdown
SRINAGAR: Village council elections were held on Thursday across Indiancontrolled Kashmir, with the detention of many mainstream local politicians and a boycott by most parties prompting expectations that the polls will install supporters of the central Hindu nationalist-led government that revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status in August.
Indian officials are hoping the election of leaders of more than 300 local councils will lend credibility amid a political vacuum and contend they will represent local interests better than corrupt state-level political officials.
Heavy contingents of police and paramilitary soldiers guarded polling stations. At some places, soldiers patrolled streets around polling stations. Police said no violence was reported.
Thursday’s elections were 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 boycotted as well, possibly allowing a clean sweep for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.
The BJP has a very small base in the Kashmir valley, the heart of a decades-old 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 Indian-controlled portion demand independence or a merger with Pakistan. About 1,000 people ran in the elections. In at least 25 councils, candidates ran unopposed. In the past, militants fighting against Indian rule have targeted candidates.