India hails Kashmir voting as normalcy

Votes were counted Tuesday in the first local elections in Kashmir since the Indian government waged a harsh political and security crackdown in the restive region last year. Officials hailed a solid turnout as a sign that democracy has been restored, but little in Kashmir feels normal.

“The voting shows democracy being alive at the grass roots,” the region’s top civil servant, BVR Subrahmanyam, told a group of reporters. “People taking value of their own lives is visible, palpable.”

The election — a vote to choose rural development officials — was called suddenly, giving parties only a week to register candidates before the first round of the eight-phase polling began in November, political leaders said.

Many prominent Kashmiri politicians and public figures remain in detention with no recourse, or under threat. And hundreds of thousands of political workers for India’s Hindu-nationalist ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, travelled through the region carrying banners and signs, hoping to make a strong showing in a mostly Muslim territory where it has traditionally been loathed.

The party, known as the BJP, did appear to make some inroads, winning at least three seats and leading in several dozen races in the 280-seat District Development Council. But some of the voter engagement appeared to stem more from defiance than satisfaction.

“We’d never want BJP to be in power in Kashmir,” said Kulsoom Chopan, 21, while waiting to vote in Bandipora, a northern district. “We would never vote for India.”

This relatively small-stakes election was the first time that India has allowed foreign reporters into Jammu and Kashmir since August 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the constitutional provision that gave the region some political autonomy. Jammu and Kashmir, which used to be India’s only Muslim-predominant state, is now a federal territory ruled directly by the Indian government.