OCCUPIED SRINAGAR: Illegally Indian-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) will hold local elections for the first time in a decade, the head of the electoral commission said Friday, after polls were stalled in the disputed region following New Delhi’s imposition of direct rule in 2019.

“After a long gap, elections are due and will be held in Jammu and Kashmir,” chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar told reporters in New Delhi.

Voting for the region’s assembly will be staggered over three stages between September 18 and October 1.

A total of 8.7 million people will be eligible to vote, the commission said.

Ballots from around the region will be counted all at once on October 4 and are usually announced on the same day.

The Muslim-majority region has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and each side claims it in full.

Some see the polls as a critical step in returning the vote to the people to choose their leaders. But critics say the 90-seat assembly will only have nominal powers over

education and culture, and critical decisions will still rest in New Delhi’s hands.