Election in Jammu and Kashmir marks new chapter for the region

It is Indian territory's first assembly polls since its special status was removed in 2019

- Nirmala Ganapathy

With the picturesque Pir Panjal mountain range in northern India's Kashmir forming the background, a young man with a mop of curly hair wiped sweat off his face as he stood on top of a minitruck, addressing a crowd in an election rally in a town called Dooru Shahabad.

"Engineer Rashid is not an agent of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

He is an agent for Kashmir. Only he understands the pain of Kashmiris," said Mr Abrar Rashid, 23, as he asked for votes for his father, Mr Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid.

The 57-year-old engineer turned-politician is the leader of the Awami Ittehad Party.

The party came to national prominence after Mr Rashid, who contested the 2024 General Election while in jail, pipped former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference (NC) chief Omar Abdullah, to become MP in his maiden attempt.

Mr Rashid and his son have often referenced the BJP in their speeches to deny criticism from the two main Kashmir parties NC and the People's Democratic Party that their party is a proxy for the BJP and would either divide votes or strike a post-election alliance with the BJP.

Engineer Rashid, who has been in jail for 5 years on terror financing charges, is also on the campaign trail after getting interim bail for 22 days from Sept 11.

Their followers chanted: "Pressure cooker, pressure cooker" the party's election symbol at the rally on Sept 12, ahead of the first state election in nearly a decade.

Jammu and Kashmir is holding its three-phase election on Sept 18, Sept 25 and Oct 1, with the counting scheduled for Oct 8.

This will be the first assembly election there since the repeal of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in 2019.

The article gave special status to the territory, allowing it to make its own laws in all matters except finance, defence, foreign affairs and communications.