India's Kashmir region will hold its first assembly election in 10 years, the country announced on Friday.
India announced a three-phased plan for assembly election in Kashmir, which comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi ended the region, which is mostly Muslim, of its semi-autonomy in 2019. Kashmir now operates as a territory fully controlled by India.
Since 2019, Kashmir has been governed by an administrator appointed by India's capital, New Delhi. It is run by bureaucrats with no democratic credentials, The Associated Press reported.
At a press conference this week, India's election commission announced that voting for Kashmir's assembly will occur between Sept. 18 and October 1. The election will be conducted in stages, allowing the government to deploy tens of thousands of troops to prevent any potential violence. The vote count is scheduled for October 4.
The assembly voting will serve to elect a local government in Kashmir and a chief minister. This position will act as Kashmir's head official communicating with other ministers.
Unlike in the past, the local assembly will have minimal legislative authority, with only symbolic control over education and culture. Lawmaking for the region will remain under India's parliament, while key policy decisions will be handled by the central government.
Local politicians are calling for the swift restoration of statehood, pushing for the return of full legislative powers to the local assembly.
However, the response from locals was mixed, as the AP spoke to some following the announcement.
"We are happy that we will finally have our election," Srinagar resident Haya Javaid said.
Another resident, Malik Zahoor, told the AP that "It would have been great if they (authorities) had also announced the restoration of statehood."
In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Mohit Bhan, the spokesperson for the Kashmir's People's Democratic Party said, "Today's press conference by the Chief Election Commissioner on J & K elections feels like too little, too late. J & K, once a powerful state with special status, has been reduced to a municipality, with any future government likely at the mercy of the LG's office."
"This isn't democracy, it's a mockery. Restoring full statehood should be the first step, not something to boast about. The people of J & K deserve their dignity back," the post added.
The 2024 elections will cover 90 constituencies, excluding Ladakh. In 2022, the Indian government redrew the assembly boundaries, adding four seats to the Hindu-majority Jammu region and three to the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley.
Kashmir had it's last assembly election in 2014 when the People's Democratic Party ruled in a coalition with Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party.
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Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more
