Biggest Kashmir party opposed to India’s stripping of region’s autonomy wins most seats in election

Associated Press

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Kashmir’s biggest political party opposed to India’s stripping of the region’s semi-autonomy has won most seats in a local election. That’s according to official results on Tuesday. The vote was seen as a referendum against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government move five years ago. National Conference won 42 seats mainly from the Kashmir Valley, the heartland of the anti-India rebellion. Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party secured 29 seats, all from the Hindu-dominated areas of Jammu. India’s main opposition Congress party, which fought the election in alliance with National Conference, succeeded in six constituencies. It’s the first such vote since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s long-held semi-autonomy in 2019.