Troubled India held Kashmir will hold state assembly elections from November 17, the country's election commission announced Sunday. "The commission has decided that elections will be held in seven phases in occupied Jammu and Kashmir and the first phase will begin on November 17," chief commissioner N Gopalaswami said in New Delhi.
He said the polls will be held in a staggered fashion to be completed by December 24. Votes would be counted December 28. The election commission last week announced that polls in five states including New Delhi will be held in November and December.
But the commission had deferred its decision on elections in occupied Jammu and Kashmir, saying an announcement would me made at a later date. Local media reported that a rift among commissioners about when to hold polls in Kashmir caused the delay.
Over the last few months, the held Kashmir valley has seen rioting and protests triggered by a temple land dispute that escalated into anti-India agitation by the Hurriyat conference leaders.
News channels reported separatist leaders called for a boycott of the elections and were considering mass protests. State elections were last held in occupied Jammu and Kashmir in 2002 when an alliance of the Indian National Congress Party and the regional People's Democratic Party came to power. Overall voter turnout was nearly 44 per cent, but many people did not cast their ballots in the held Kashmir valley, where the turnout was only 29 per cent. Poll-related violence had left many dead including then-state law minister Mushtaq Lone.