The phased election for choosing a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir has opened in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.

The Ministry of Local Government is finalizing the logistical details for the upcoming municipal elections. The Ministry, in consultation with all municipal councils is focusing on establishing clear policies and procedures for the allocation of councilors across municipal wards.

The vote will see a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly, with a chief minister at the top heading a council of ministers. But Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory” — a region directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament remaining its main legislator.

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting the main city in Himalayan Kashmir to campaign for his party in the staggered local election in the first such vote since New Delhi stripped the disput

With fresh faces emerging to challenge the traditional political powerhouses, the region’s political dynamics already appear to be changing.

Voters queued outside polling stations in India's Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to vote in the first provincial election being held in a decade in the Himalayan region that has grappled with years of militant violence.

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, residents are voting in elections that some hope will lead to restoration of the territory's statehood, which ended when it became a federally governed territory in 2019.