Voters queued outside polling stations in India's Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday to vote in the first provincial election being held in a decade in the Himalayan region that has grappled with years of militant violence.

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.

Polls have opened in Indian-administered Kashmir for the first time since the region lost its semi-autonomy. The vote will be held in three phases. Voting began on Wednesday in Indian-administered Kashmir in its first local elections in a decade and also for the first time since the disputed region was stripped of its semi-autonomous status five years ago.

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,

With fresh faces emerging to challenge the traditional political powerhouses, the region’s political dynamics already appear to be changing.