India announces elections in Kashmir after 10-year hiatus

India has announced plans to hold crucial regional elections in the disputed Indian-administered territory of Jammu and Kashmir from September 18.

It is the first poll in nearly a decade – and the first since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the region’s special status in 2019.

The three-phase voting in 90 constituencies will end on October 1 and the counting will take place on October 4.

Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said about 8.7 million people, including 4.26 million women, would be eligible to vote.

Parliamentary elections are usually held every five years, but political instability has delayed the elections.

“After a long hiatus, elections will be held in Jammu and Kashmir,” Kumar told a press conference in Delhi on Friday.

He added that Kashmir had voted “for ballots instead of bullets” – as the region witnessed a record voter turnout of 58.46 per cent in the recently held parliamentary elections, up 30 points from the turnout in the 2019 general elections.

The commission later posted on X (formerly Twitter) that the long queues of voters during the general elections were “a testament to the will and aspiration of the people of Jammu and Kashmir to write their own destiny”.

Friday’s announcement comes just months after India’s Supreme Court upheld the government’s decision to revoke Article 370 of the constitution, which had given the region significant autonomy. The court also ordered assembly elections to be held before September 30.

While stripping Kashmir of its special status, the government also divided the state of more than 12 million people into two federally administered territories – Ladakh; and Jammu and Kashmir.

The recall was one of Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) election promises in 2019 and the decision has left the party unpopular in the state.

In March, the prime minister visited the region for the first time since 2019 and said he was “working hard to win your hearts”. He also announced projects worth 64bn rupees ($774m; £607m) to support local agriculture and tourism.

But local analysts and politicians say anger toward the BJP remains.

The Himalayan region was divided after India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain in 1947. The two nuclear-armed nations claim the entire region and have fought two wars and a limited conflict in the decades since.

An armed rebellion against Delhi’s rule in the Indian-administered region since 1989 has claimed tens of thousands of lives and there is a heavy military presence in the area.

Delhi accuses Islamabad of harboring militants and undermining peace in the region, a charge Pakistan denies.

Kashmir continues to be haunted by violence. A recent uptick in militant activity – appears to have moved from Kashmir valley to the relatively more peaceful Jammu region – is a particular cause for concern.

In June, nine Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens injured after militants opened fire on a bus in Reasi – where the bridge is located – one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in recent years. There have been several other attacks on the military and civilians.