Many in Indian-controlled Kashmir plan to vote this time to deny Modi total control [View all]
SRINAGAR, India (AP) — For decades, boycotting elections in Indian-controlled Kashmir was a sign of protest against Indian rule.
That may change on Wednesday, when many residents of the Muslim-majority region say they’re willing to use their vote in a local election to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party the power to form an administration in the disputed region.
The vote is the first in a decade, and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in 2019 scrapped the region’s special status and downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory. The move — which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters — was mostly opposed in Kashmir as an assault on its identity and autonomy.
“Boycotts will not work in this election,” said Abdul Rashid, a resident in southern Kashmir’s Shangus village. “There is a desperate need to end the onslaught of changes coming from there (India).”
https://apnews.com/article/kashmir-election-india-pakistan-conflict-4493b9cd496de1aadf1cddcb6194043d
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