India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the main city in Himalayan Kashmir on Thursday to campaign for his party in the local election, the first such vote since New Delhi stripped the disputed region’s semi-autonomy in 2019.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked the "three families" of Jammu and Kashmir politics amid the ongoing assembly elections. In a veiled dig at the Abdullahs, the Muftis, and the Gandhis, PM Modi said that the three families used to snatch the rights of the people of Jammu and Kashmir.

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.

In the upcoming years, the tourism sector is going to further expand in the valley, which will create a ripple effect for the overall economy of the state, he said.

PM Modi has pledged to restore statehood to J&K during an poll rally. He accused the Opposition of seeking to reinstate Article 370, which he claimed would lead to violence.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s top political opponent in India’s volatile Jammu and Kashmir region says restoring power in the hands of the people is a priority if his party wins local elections that begin this week.

A three-phased election for choosing a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir opened Wednesday in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.