A colorful convoy of flag-draped cars pulls into a village in Indian-administered Kashmir on a sunny September afternoon for an electoral rally.
A Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader named Iltija Mufti slowly emerges from one of the cars’ sunroofs.
“Yeli ye Mufti (When Mufti will be in power),” she exclaims, addressing the assembled audience of one of the most powerful political dynasties in the area.
They all reply, “Teli Tch’le Sakhti (Then the repression will end).”.
Soldiers with bulletproof vests keeping vigil from a distance, equipped with automatic guns, monitor every move.
Elections are being held in 47 assembly seats in Kashmir for the first time in ten years, long highlighted by violence and unrest. The region, claimed by both India and Pakistan, has been the cause of three wars between the nuclear-armed neighbours. Since the 1990s, an armed insurgency against Indian rule has claimed thousands of lives, including civilians and security forces.
The forty-three seats in the nearby Jammu region, where Hindus predominate, will also be up for election in the three phases.
The election is the first since Jammu and Kashmir’s statehood, autonomy, and federal administration were all taken away by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration in 2019. A federal administrator has been in charge of the area ever since.
Thirteen political parties are competing for a majority in the ninety-seat assembly.
The two main regional parties, the National Conference (NC) led by Omar Abdullah and the PDP led by Mehbooba Mufti, are the principal players. Abdullah and Mufti are both previous regional chief ministers.
The NC and Congress, the principal opposition party in India, have forged an alliance.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is contesting in the Kashmir elections, but not many are betting on the party, which has a stronghold in Jammu but a weak political base in the valley. The alliance formed in 2014 with the PDP after sweeping Jammu but fell apart in 2018 after years of disagreements. Engineer Rashid, who spent five years in jail accused in a terror case, has been released on bail this week.
Elections in Kashmir have long been contentious, with residents and separatist leaders often boycotting them. Since 1947, Kashmir has held 12 elections, but voter turnout has often been low and marked by violence. For the first time in decades, even separatist leaders are contesting in several seats. The most keenly watched of these is the outlawed Jamaat-e-Islami (JEI) party, which has joined hands with Rashid’s Awami Ittehad Party (AIP).
Residents will vote to elect a local assembly, led by a chief minister and council of ministers, which has sparked hopes for a political change in the valley. Most residents appear to be reconciled to the loss of their region’s autonomy, but some young men and women are more concerned about issues like political instability, corruption, and unemployment.
The BJP is contesting in 19 of the 47 seats in the valley. The shift in political attitudes was also evident earlier this year, when Kashmir registered a historic 58.46% voter turnout in the parliamentary election. Many residents are now pinning their hopes on regional parties to raise their demands.
(BBC)
