Kashmir residents vote in local polls amid cold and tight security

Soldiers stand guard as Kashmiris wait to cast their votes at a polling station (Mukhtar Khan/AP)

Thousands of people in Indian-controlled Kashmir were going to the polls on Saturday amid tight security and freezing cold temperatures in the first local elections since New Delhi revoked the disputed region’s semi-autonomous status.

Nearly six million people across the region’s 20 districts are eligible to elect 280 members of District Development Councils in a staggered eight-phase process that ends on December 19.