In Kashmir, the National Conference (NC) party has won key elections held for the first time after India’s ruling party stripped the Muslim-majority region of its semi-autonomous status in 2019.

Official data showed on Tuesday that the NC, Kashmir’s biggest political party which opposes India’s move against the region, has won 42 seats in the assembly.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) secured 29 seats. The main opposition Congress Party, which fought the election in alliance with the NC, succeeded in 6 constituencies.

National Conference leader Omar Abdullah told reporters in the main city of Srinagar, “People have supported us more than our expectations. Now our efforts will be to prove that we are worth these votes.” 

His father and president of the party, Farooq Abdullah, said the mandate was to run the region without “police raj (rule)” and try freeing people from jails.

“People have given their mandate.”

They, Abdullah said, have proven that they don’t accept the decision that was taken on August 5, 2019, when the Hindu-nationalist government of Modi ordered the abrogation of the region’s special status under Article 370.

Hundreds of the NC workers gathered outside counting centers and at the homes of the winning candidates to celebrate the party’s victory as they waved the party flags and chanted pro-Kashmir and pro-party slogans.

Back in August, India announced three-phased assembly elections in the Kashmir region that were to take place between September 18 and October 1.

A total of 8.7 million people were eligible to vote.

The region has remained on edge since it was downgraded to a federally-controlled territory, governed by a New Delhi-appointed administrator and run by bureaucrats with no democratic credentials.

About 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in the region, which has witnessed a 35-year violence that has killed tens of thousands, including civilians and soldiers.

Modi urged people in all constituencies in a post on X to vote in large numbers and strengthen what he claimed to be the “festival of democracy.”

However, contrary to the past, the local assembly will barely have any legislative powers with only nominal control over education and culture.

Legislating laws for the region will continue to be with India’s parliament while policy decisions will be made in New Delhi.

Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. Each administers part of the territory, but both claim the entire territory.