India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting the main city in Himalayan Kashmir to campaign for his party in the staggered local election in the first such vote since New Delhi stripped the disput

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, residents are voting in elections that some hope will lead to restoration of the territory's statehood, which ended when it became a federally governed territory in 2019.

Indian-administered Kashmir votes on Wednesday in the first local elections since the cancellation of its special semi-autonomous status sparked fury in the troubled Himalayan territory, which is also claimed by Pakistan.

Voters queued outside polling stations in India's Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to vote in the first provincial election being held in a decade in the Himalayan region that has grappled with years of militant violence.

Eight constituencies in the Jammu region and 16 from the Kashmir Valley voted on the first phase of assembly elections. Two more rounds of voting remain.

India’s troubled region of Jammu and Kashmir saw a brisk turnout amid tight security as voters cast their ballots on Wednesday in the first regional legislative elections in a decade. The region, which has seen years of separatist violence and is at the centre of a dispute between India and Pakistan,

With fresh faces emerging to challenge the traditional political powerhouses, the region’s political dynamics already appear to be changing.