Voters in Indian Kashmir turned out under tight security Tuesday as Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party made a serious bid for power in the tense Muslim-majority state. Voters lined up in 15 heavily guarded constituencies in the first stage of staggered elections, ignoring a call by separatist leaders to boycott the poll due to India's rule over the troubled Himalayan region.
Turnout was high in seats across the region, including near LoC and in remote Ladakh, home to mostly Buddhists, where temperatures were below freezing. "Vote in large numbers & vote with your hearts," tweeted the region's puppet chief minister Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference party faces an uphill fight to stay in power. Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is staging a bold attempt to seize control of the Jammu and Kashmir state's 87-member assembly, a move unthinkable until very recently.
The party has traditionally had no base in the occupied Kashmir Valley, where residents' resentment against Indian rule runs high. About a dozen rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for Kashmir's independence or for its merger with neighbouring Pakistan. Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died. But Modi's landslide win in national elections in May on a pledge to revive the economy, along with a support meltdown for incumbent Abdullah after deadly September flooding have given the BJP hope of a breakthrough. Outside a polling station in Ganderbal, a seat Abdullah's family has long dominated, some voters were ready to give the BJP a chance. "Whoever is willing to do the work is the best party. There's nothing wrong with the BJP. Whoever works for the poor is the best party," said taxi driver Aris Ahmed in Ganderbal, 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the main city of Srinagar.
Comments
Comments are closed.