At a campaign rally in southern Kashmir, 45-year-old Shameema Jan raises her voice and joins dozens of other women in singing traditional songs in support of their preferred candidate ahead of the Jammu and Kashmir regional election due to start on Wednesday.

The hopes held by these women are simple. They want a representative, preferably a woman, who can address their everyday concerns, such as water scarcity in the village, the imprisonment of local boys in jails outside Kashmir, and the growing issue of youth unemployment in the Muslim-majority region controlled by India.

To them, this candidate is Iltija Mufti, the daughter of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, who served as the head of Jammu and Kashmir government until 2018.

"She is young and energetic," Jan told DW of Iltija Mufti. "If we vote for her, she will listen to us. We have so many young people in jails outside Kashmir, and we want them to be released," Jan added, while Mufti addressed the rally from atop her SUV.

"This election might change our situation," Jan said, with women around her nodding in agreement.

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Jammu and Kashmir is set to hold its first regional assembly elections in a decade. The last such ballot was held in 2014 when Indian PM Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party........

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