UPDATE - Kashmiris vote in crucial elections, 1st after loss of autonomy

UPDATES WITH VOTING DETAILS, REACTION FROM PAKISTAN, INDIAN PREMIER'S STATEMENT; CHANGES HEADLINE, DECK, LEDE; EDITS THROUGH

By Hilal Mir and Aamir Latif

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir/KARACHI, Pakistan (AA) - People in the Indian-administered Kashmir Wednesday voted in crucial assembly elections, with Pakistan rejecting the polls held for the first time since 2014.

According to the Election Commission of India, the first phase of the elections recorded a 58.58% turnout while nearly 9 million people are registered across the region to vote for the 90-member Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly.

The seats are distributed between the two areas that make up the union territory -- 47 for Kashmir and 43 for Jammu.

The two other phases of polling will be held on Sept. 25, and Oct. 1 -- followed by counting and results on Oct. 8.

The elections have greater significance as they are also the first since India scrapped the Muslim-majority region’s special autonomy in August 2019.

India's longtime rival Pakistan “categorically” rejected the polls, asserting that these polls are no substitute for the Kashmiri people's right to self-determination.

A total of 219 candidates are in the fray for the 24 constituencies in the first phase, including 16 in southern Kashmir districts that until recently were the hub of a resurgent anti-India armed insurgency.

From 2018 to Aug. 5, 2019, New Delhi ruled the region directly through a governor who wielded as much authority as an elected government.

It was then made a federally ruled territory and has since been under a lieutenant governor with even more powers.

The vote will lead to a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly, as Jammu and Kashmir will remain a union territory under direct federal control and the Indian parliament will be its top legislature.

Before its autonomy was scrapped, the region had its own constitution, a flag, and a bicameral assembly that could make laws independently of India’s parliament.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to "vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy."

"I particularly call upon young and first-time voters to exercise their franchise," Modi said ahead of the elections which began at 7 a.m. local time.

- Pakistan rejects polls

President Asif Ali Zardari, in a statement, said such elections are “unacceptable to the people of Kashmir and called upon the international community to hold the (Narendra) Modi government accountable for ongoing human rights violations in IIOJK (Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir).”

Talking to a delegation of migrants from the Indian-administered Kashmir, residing in Pakistan since 1989, on Wednesday, he termed the polls as part of India’s “broader strategy to consolidate its illegal occupation of the region.”

He reiterated Pakistan’s commitment to provide “moral, political, and diplomatic support to the Kashmiri people till the realization of their right to self-determination.”

Pakistan and India have long been at odds on the lingering Kashmir dispute, which has led to two full-fledged wars -- in 1948 and 1965 -- and a three-week Kargil skirmish in 1999.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against the Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.