Indian-Administered Kashmir to Hold First Local Polls in a Decade

Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir will hold local elections for the first time in a decade, the head of the electoral commission said Friday, after polls were stalled following New Delhi's imposition of direct rule in the disputed region.    
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.    
"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 results are usually announced on the same day.    
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.    
Some hardline separatists, who demand independence for Kashmir or its merger with New Delhi's arch-rival Pakistan, oppose elections because they see them as lending validity to Indian control.    
They demand a referendum to decide the future of the Himalayan region of around 12 million people.    
About 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in the region, battling a 35-year insurgency that has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels since 1989. – AFP/RSS