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00:00The three-phased election for choosing a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir has
00:06opened. The authority is deploying thousands of additional police and paramilitary soldiers in
00:11the region's seven southern districts. The vote is the first in a decade and the first since
00:16Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist government in 2019 scrapped the Muslim-majority region's
00:22semi-autonomy downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory. Well, let's talk
00:29to our correspondent Navadita Kamari who joins us now from New Delhi. Navadita, just tell us
00:35how it's going. I mean the vote's been, the polls have been open there for quite a few hours
00:40now, haven't they? What exactly people are voting for as well?
00:42Yeah, exactly. The regional election in Jammu and Kashmir is the first phase and it's
00:53been going smoothly. Long queues of voters are being reported across the country amid tight
00:59security. And within the first four hours of voting, over 27 percent of voters turned out
01:06has been reported. And as you just mentioned, it's a very important election as it is coming
01:12after a long gap of 10 years and the first one since the government of Prime Minister
01:17Narendra Modi stripped the region of its special semi-autonomous region in 2019. And a total of
01:27three phases of election will happen. The second will be on the 25th of September, followed by the
01:33last one on the 1st of October. And the results are expected to be announced on the 8th of October.
01:39Over 8 million voters will be voting and for them the main agenda is to regain the special status
01:47and also to restore the statehood. So it's a very crucial election for the people who want to choose
01:54their local representatives and their voices to be heard as they have been under the rule of central
02:01government since 2014 and they say they feel alienated. So the main agenda for the voters
02:07and the political parties are to bring back the statehood of Jammu and Kashmir.
02:13Navadita, you mentioned briefly the high voter turnout or the need for it and that's really
02:18crucial there, isn't it? Yeah, exactly. We expect high voters turn out as political experts say that
02:28it is their way of expressing their protest and it's going to be a protest vote and they are angry
02:35at the central government's decision to strip the state of their statehood and take away the chance
02:42of their voices to be heard. Remember this is the only Muslim majority region in India and they say
02:50that they have, through their legislature, were able to have their own laws pertaining to their
02:58demography and culture and so that's why they are coming in large number. It is also an attempt
03:05at stopping the Hindu Nationalist Party of the BJP who have been trying for years to make inroads.
03:12They are contesting in this election for over 60 of the 90 seats and it is the BJP they are
03:21trying to stop and coming in large number to vote. So it's going to be a very interesting
03:27and a significant election as for decades we know that the Indian controlled Kashmir
03:33has boycotted election as a sign of protest against the Indian rule.