SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Voting in the final phase of the election to choose a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir began Tuesday in the first such vote since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.

India’s northern-most region of Jammu and Kashmir concludes local elections on Tuesday as concerns mount of an uncertain outcome that may delay economic progress in the restive province.

Indian-administered Kashmir was voting Tuesday in the third and final round of polls to elect its first government since the insurgency-wracked territory was brought under New Delhi's direct control.Hindu-nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government cancelled Kashmir's partial autonomy in 2019,

Ahead of the final phase of a local election in Indian-controlled Kashmir, a key resistance leader says the regional polls to choose a local government will not resolve the decades-old conflict that is at the heart of a dispute between New Delhi and Pakistan.

Indian-administered side of the disputed region is voting in the first polls since New Delhi revoked its autonomy in 2019