A HUGE turnout is expected on Wednesday in crucial local elections in Indian-controlled Kashmir as voters attempt to deny victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party in the disputed region.

The vote since Mr Modi’s government, led by the far-right Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s special status in 2019 and downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory. 

For decades, many people have boycotted elections in protest at Indian rule. But Abdul Rashid, a resident of the southern Kashmir village of Shangus, said that boycotts “will not work in this election.”

He added: “There is a desperate need to end the onslaught of changes coming from India.”

The election will allow residents to choose their own local assembly, instead of remaining under direct rule from New Delhi. 

The region’s last assembly election was held in 2014, after which Mr Modi’s BJP ruled the region for the first time, in a coalition with the Jammu and Kashmir People’s Democratic Party. But the government collapsed in 2018 when the BJP withdrew from the coalition. 

This time, New Delhi says the polls are ushering in democracy after more than three decades of strife. However, many locals see the vote as an opportunity not only to elect their own representatives but also to register a protest against the 2019 changes.

Polling will be held in three phases, with second and third scheduled for September 25 and October 1. The result will be announced on October 8.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. Since independence from Britain in 1947, the nuclear-armed rivals have fought two wars over its control. Both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety.

“We need some relief and end of bureaucratic rule here, said Rafiq Ahmed, a taxi driver in Srinagar, the region’s main city.