A phased election for choosing a local government in Indian-controlled Kashmir has opened 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 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,

The vote will see a limited transition of power from New Delhi to the local assembly, with a chief minister at the top heading a council of ministers. But Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory” — a region directly controlled by the federal government — with India’s Parliament remaining its main legislator.

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.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi took on the 'dynastic politics' of Congress, National Conference and People's Democratic Party (PDP) as he held rally in Srinagar in support of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidates.