When former Kashmiri independence advocate Hafiz Mohammad Sikander Malik filed nomination papers for the Jammu and Kashmir's election starting Wednesday, the first poll since India revoked the region's semi-autonomy,

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.

India’s troubled region of Jammu and Kashmir saw a brisk turnout amid tight security as voters cast their ballots on Wednesday in the first regional legislative elections in a decade. The region, which has seen years of separatist violence and is at the centre of a dispute between India and Pakistan,