Votes cast freely in Jammu and Kashmir, loyalty tested in PoJK: Two kinds of citizenship

PoJK offers no such route. Pakistan imposed an Interim Constitution in 1974 that screens candidates for their support of union with Pakistan. Its Section 7(2) forbids any person or party from campaigning against the territory's accession. Candidates must sign a declaration backing accession before they can stand, and in 2001 election officials rejected the nominations of independence-minded candidates who refused.

New Delhi: Jammu and Kashmir has voted in record numbers under India’s Constitution. In Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir, the law screens out dissenters, and protesters face bans, criminal cases and gunfire.

In September 2024, voters in Kishtwar queued in such numbers that the district recorded 80.14 per cent turnout on the first day of Jammu and Kashmir’s Assembly election. Across the Line of Control, Pakistan-Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK) held its own vote in the summer of 2026, spread over three phases for security reasons, amid a breakdown of law and order and claims of rigging by the government. One side treats elections as a celebration of citizenship. The other runs them as a managed test of loyalty.

Record turnout, peaceful polls

Jammu and Kashmir’s numbers speak plainly. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election,........

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