Indian Kashmir votes under tight security

BANDIPORA, India (Reuters) - With armed troops patrolling shuttered streets and separatist leaders locked up, Indian Kashmiris voted in a state election on Monday, casting their ballots for better roads and civic amenities.

The turnout in three Kashmir constituencies was a little more than 52 percent, slightly less than in 2002 polls, with many Muslim Kashmiris voting for better local government even if they did not accept Indian rule in their troubled state.

"We are voting for a better candidate who can take care of the roads and better amenities but don't confuse this with the question of Azadi (freedom)," said 45-year-old carpet weaver Ghulam Ahmad in Bandipora in northern Kashmir.

"Everyone here you see wants Azadi," he said, echoing the comments of many voters in the Kashmir Valley.

Bandipora lies 60 km (35 miles) north of Srinagar, the summer capital of Muslim-majority Kashmir and heart of the separatist rebellion. Srinagar will vote later in the seven-stage election.

At least six people were injured when police fired teargas and used batons to disperse scores of demonstrators protesting against the elections in Bandipora town, police said.

Separatist leaders, who either want Kashmir to become independent or part of Pakistan, have appealed for an election boycott after some of the biggest anti-India protests were staged in Kashmir this year since an insurgency began in 1989.

The response seemed to be mixed on a chilly morning when temperatures remained below zero at many places in the region.

Political parties brought in voters in jeeps to one polling station in Ajas village, while another group of men watched warily from a distance.

Some of them then began shouting "Azadi, Azadi."

ALL EYES ON KASHMIR VALLEY

Control of Kashmir is principally split between India and Pakistan, with a sparsely inhabited stretch of Himalayan plateau also held by China.

The Indian-ruled portion, the state of Jammu and Kashmir, is made up of the Muslim-dominated Kashmir Valley, the Hindu-majority Jammu region and mainly Buddhist Ladakh.

Elections were also held on Monday in seven constituencies in the Jammu and Ladakh regions. The average turnout in those seats was about 55 percent, the election commission said.

But the Kashmir valley remains the focus after police killed at least 42 people during pro-independence protests this year.

New Delhi is hoping for a decent turnout to bolster the legitimacy of democracy and its rule in Kashmir. All the parties that competed on Monday broadly support Indian rule.

"This reaffirms the Kashmiri people's faith in the Indian democracy," said Kulbushan Jandial, the state's chief spokesman.

Separatists said elections would not resolve the issue of independence.

"If the voting percentage is about 25-30, it is a boycott," Sajjad Lone, head of the separatist Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference, told Reuters at his home, where his movement is restricted by armed soldiers.

The election results signaled a status quo, analysts said.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since they gained independence from Britain in 1947.

Separatist guerrillas have in the past used violence to scupper elections, but this year the United Jihad Council (UJC), a Pakistan-based militant alliance fighting Indian troops in Kashmir, rejected the use of violence to force a boycott.

Officials say more than 43,000 people have been killed in the conflict in Kashmir, but violence has declined significantly since Pakistan and India began a peace process in 2004.

An estimated 500,000 Indian troops are stationed in the region to defend the frontier, fight separatist militants and now provide security to the elections.

In Shadipura, dozens of villagers wrapped in "pherans," or flowing woolen robes, tramped in to vote at a fortress-like polling station, coming from villages set high in rocky mountains, apple orchards and rice farms.

Others peered from windows to watch security forces combing deserted streets. Police outnumbered voters in many areas.

(Additional reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq in Srinagar; Editing by Paul Tait)