No clear winner in Kashmir election, officials say
SRINAGAR, India: Kashmir’s first election since a wave of deadly protest swept through the disputed region was likely to result in a deadlocked legislature, officials said Sunday, sparking a scramble to form a new coalition government.
Election workers tallied the results as government forces patrolled the streets in combat gear, but early returns indicated that no single party won enough seats to control the new state government, a local election officer said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
The creation of the new state government marks the end of nearly six months of federal rule in India’s only Muslim-majority state.
Separatists had urged residents to protest and boycott the vote, saying the election would only strengthen India’s hold on the Himalayan region. Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Kashmir, where most people favor either independence or a merger with Pakistan. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both.
