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Kashmir: What’s at Stake as Elections Are Set to Kick Off

Kashmir Polls: The Indian government will have to take a considered view on doing more than statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. Here's our take on what's at stake.

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Kashmir Polls

Kashmir Polls | The relative calm of Dal Lake in Srinagar belies the turbulence of politics in Jammu and Kashmir. | Isa Macouzet via Unsplash | Credits Unsplash Licence

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Kashmir Elections: A Test of Will and Democracy

Embarking on a mountain in Kashmir, while running a temperature, is a bad idea, especially when elections in India’s newest Union Territory are around the corner.

Kashmir has not had an elected government for five years during which time it was directly administered by the central government. 

But now that elections will be held in three phases – September 18, 25 and October 1, with counting of votes on October 4 – a different kind of fever has set in, signalling a degree of enthusiasm also felt during parliamentary polls this summer when the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) recorded 58.46 percent voter turnout.

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J&K goes to the polls against the backdrop of a recent Union Home Ministry amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act which grants the Delhi-appointed Lieutenant Governor (LG) authority over the bureaucracy, judiciary and the police. 

This move, in effect, enhanced the LG’s power over transfers and postings of all-India service officers, including those in the Indian Administrative Service and the police.

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