Indian Kashmir votes with Modi eyeing power

INDIA, Nov 25 (AFP): Indian Kashmir headed to the polls Tuesday under tight security, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu nationalist party eyeing power for the first time in the tense and disputed Muslim-majority state.
Voters lined up in 15 heavily guarded constituencies in the first stage of staggered elections in the Himalayan region, claimed by both India and Pakistan and the scene of two wars between the rival neighbours.
More than one million residents were eligible to vote in seats across the region, including near the de-facto border that divides Kashmir and in remote Ladakh, home to mostly Buddhists, where temperatures have dropped below freezing.
"Vote in large numbers & vote with your hearts," tweeted the region's chief minister Omar Abdullah, whose National Conference party faces a tough fight to stay in power.
Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is staging a bold attempt to seize control of the Jammu and Kashmir state's 87-member assembly, a move that would have been unthinkable until very recently.
The party has traditionally had no base in the Kashmir Valley, where residents' resentment against Indian rule runs high.