India’s six-week election has reached its fourth round, including in New Delhi-administered Kashmir, where voters are anticipated to express dissatisfaction with major changes in the territory under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s administration.
Voting continued on Monday, as Modi remains popular across most of India, and his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is anticipated to win the election when it ends early next month.
However, his government’s hasty decision in 2019 to place Kashmir under direct administration by New Delhi, as well as the severe security clampdown that accompanied it, has sparked outrage among the region’s population, who will vote for the first time since the move.
Since 1989, armed opposition organizations against the Indian administration have maintained an insurgency on the Indian side of the border, demanding independence or union with Pakistan.
The Indian-administered portion of the region was placed under direct rule five years ago, resulting in the mass incarceration of local political leaders and a months-long telecommunications blackout to prevent planned protests.
Modi’s government claims that the cancellation of Kashmir’s special status has resulted in “peace and development,” and that the action was widely supported by Kashmiris.
However, his party has not nominated any candidates in the Kashmir valley for the first time since 1996, and experts believe the BJP would have been soundly crushed if it had. The BJP has urged people to support smaller, newly formed parties that have publicly aligned with Modi’s objectives.
However, voters are anticipated to support one of two existing Kashmiri political parties, the Peoples Democratic Party and the National Conference, which ask for the Modi government’s measures to be overturned.
Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since 1947 when both gained independence. Both countries fought two battles for control of the Himalayan region. Tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians have been slain in the fight over the last several decades.
