Foreign diplomats witness polling in India’s Jammu and Kashmir during second phase election

A delegation of foreign diplomats from at least 15 countries, including the United States, Singapore, and South Korea, visited India's Jammu and Kashmir to witness the second phase of provincial polls on Wednesday (Sep25).

The senior diplomats said they were happy to witness citizens exercising their democratic right to vote in the Indian federal territory and drew comparisons to their own countries' electoral systems.

Voting in the second phase is being held across 26 assembly constituencies, including Srinagar, and the voter turnout was 24.10 per cent as of 11:00 am (GMT 0530).

The Indian foreign ministry invited top diplomats from countries, including the United States, Singapore, South Korea, Mexico, Guyana, Somalia, Panama, Nigeria, Spain, South Africa, Norway, Tanzania, Rwanda, Algeria, and the Philippines.

Nearly 9 million people are registered to vote for the legislative assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. The decision to hold regional elections for the first time in a decade comes after India's Supreme Court upheld a decision by the government to scrap the region's special status.

Jammu Kashmir National Conference leader Omar Abdullah expressed his views about foreign diplomats attending the voting. He slammed the Centre by saying, “We don’t need certificates from foreigners.” He was not in favour of this decision, and further said, "When foreign governments comment, the Government of India says this is an internal matter for India, now suddenly they want foreign observers to come and look at our elections."

He further added, "If diplomats can be brought here, why are foreign journalists not being permitted to come here and cover elections...Diplomats are being brought here as guided tourists. This is not good.”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi withdrew Jammu and Kashmir's special autonomy in 2019 and split the former state into two federal territories, aiming to tighten its grip on the Muslim-majority region.

The region has been marred by militant violence, having been at the centre of decades of animosity between India and Pakistan since independence from British colonial rule.

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