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 a first such vote since New Delhi stripped the disputed region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

Eight constituencies in the Jammu region and 16 from the Kashmir Valley voted on the first phase of assembly elections. Two more rounds of voting remain.

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

Three months after his worst election performance to date, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing another challenging vote: this time in the fragile region of Jammu and Kashmir, where separatist sentiment is strong and voters are angry with their loss of autonomy.

It is the first such vote since India's government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday promised to restore statehood to Jammu & Kashmir. Speaking at an election campaign rally in Katra in the Reasi district, he also accused the Opposition of trying to bring back bloodshed in Kashmir by reversing the abrogation of Article 370.

In Indian-controlled Kashmir, many people boycotted elections for decades in protest against Indian rule. The vote is the first in a decade, and the first since Modi’s Hindu nationalist government in 2019 scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s special status and downgraded the former state to a federally governed territory.