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SRINAGAR / AP
Security forces in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir opened fire on Sunday on crowds of people who attacked polling stations where voting for a by-election was taking place, killing five and injuring at least a dozen, officials said.
Protesters tried to snatch or damage electronic voting machines in at least a dozen places in the districts of Srinagar, Budgam and Ganderbal, said Shantmanu, Kashmir’s chief electoral officer.
The deaths occurred when security forces fired after clashes broke out with protesters who wanted to stop the election for the Srinagar parliamentary constituency. The seat had fallen vacant after a lawmaker resigned to protest the killing of civilians during unrest last year. Police said many protesters were injured in the violence. Anti-India separatists who challenge India’s sovereignty over Kashmir had called for a boycott of the by-election.
Voter turnout was low, with only about 6 percent of the area’s 1.3 million voters casting ballots as of 3 p.m., two hours before the voting was to end, said Shantmanu, who uses only one name.
Indian Kashmir has been wracked by violence since a separatist insurgency began nearly 30 years ago.