Congress-led alliance gets 47 of 90 seats

SRINAGAR, Oct 08 (AFP): Indian-administered Kashmir elected Tuesday its first government since the restive Himalayan territory was brought under New Delhi's direct control, as voters backed opposition parties to lead its regional assembly.
Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government cancelled Kashmir's partial autonomy to control its affairs in 2019, a sudden decision accompanied by mass arrests and a months-long communications blackout.
Since then, the Muslim-majority territory of some 12 million people-divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in full-has not had an elected local government.
Instead, it has been ruled by a governor appointed by New Delhi.
While voters took part in national elections in June when Modi won a third term in power, these were the first local elections since 2014.
As results were announced, with an alliance of the opposition National Conference (NC) and Congress parties tipped to form a government, supporters celebrated.
By mid-afternoon, Election Commission figures showed NC and Congress had won 47 of 90 seats in the assembly, an unassailable lead over Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with 27.
Some called the vote a de facto referendum on the federal government's decision to repeal the territory's special status.
"The people have given their judgement against what New Delhi did," social activist Iqbal Ahmad Bhat said.
Half a million Indian troops are deployed in the far northern region, battling a 35-year insurgency in which tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels have been killed, including dozens this year.
Congress defeated in Haryana
for overconfidence, infighting
Results from elections in Haryana-a state just north of New Delhi-were also released on Tuesday. In those polls, Modi's BJP was leading the opposition Congress.
Perhaps the best description of what transpired in the state has come from political scientist Sandeep Shastri. "The Congress has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory," he told the BBC.
For weeks, political circles had been abuzz that the BJP was facing a huge wave of anti-incumbency and analysts were confidently saying that the party's government was on its way out.
After most of the post-election exit polls predicted a Congress landslide, many said it was an election for the party to lose. Shastri blames the Congress defeat on overconfidence and infighting within the party.
"They were confident they would win and became complacent. BJP, on the other hand, worked on issues quietly on the ground and successfully fought anti-incumbency to return to power."