SRINAGAR, India, Oct 1, (AP): Voting in the final phase of the election to choose a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir began Tuesday in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago. Over 3.9 million residents are eligible to cast their votes to choose 40 lawmakers out of 415 candidates in the region’s seven districts during the third - and last - phase of the election.

It’s the first such vote in a decade and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s semi-autonomy in 2019. The unprecedented move downgraded and divided the former state into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir. Both are ruled directly by New Delhi through its appointed administrators along unelected bureaucrats and security setup.

The move - which largely resonated in India and among Modi supporters - was mostly opposed in Kashmir as an assault on its identity and autonomy. The region has since been on edge with civil liberties curbed and media gagged. India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

The two nuclear-rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from the British colonial rule in 1947. On Tuesday, thousands of armed government forces patrolled the voting districts and guarded over 5,000 polling stations. Lines of voters stretched across the stations to cast their ballot. The region’s chief electoral office said about 28% turnout was recorded as of 11 am.

In Jammu areas, tens of thousands of Pakistani Hindu refugees are voting for the first time in any regional election since their migration in 1947. The refugees, officially called as West Pakistan Refugees, have long been recognized as Indian citizens with voting rights in national elections. However, before 2019 changes, Kashmir’s special status allowed only descendants from residents of the territory in 1934 to vote and own property. At a polling station in Jammu’s R S Pura area, scores of these refugees lined to cast their votes.