Why are Kashmiris voting in Indian election they've long boycotted?

Srinagar, Indian-administered Kashmir – Haroon Khan huddled with his friends on the lawn of a polling station in the heart of Nowhatta, a part of the city of Srinagar that is known for its anti-India sentiments. Khan had just emerged from a small room after casting his vote in the ongoing parliamentary elections in India.

For years, most people in Indian-administered Kashmir have boycotted elections, which many here have seen as attempts by New Delhi to legitimise – using democracy – its control over a region that has been a hotbed of armed rebellion against India since 1989. Rebel armed groups and separatist leaders have routinely issued boycott calls ahead of every election.

Yet, as India votes in its national elections, that voting pattern is changing. Five years after the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi revoked the special status of Jammu and Kashmir, abolished its statehood, and brought it under the direct control of New Delhi, 21-year-old Khan and his friends outside the polling booth chose a new form of protest: voting.