India-administered Kashmir’s biggest political party opposed to India’s stripping of the region’s semi-autonomy has won the most seats in the first legislative elections since the move by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government five years ago.

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, or NC, won 42 seats in the 90-seat Legislative Assembly, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday.

The BJP secured 29 seats while the country’s main opposition Indian National Congress party, which fought the election in alliance with the NC, succeeded in six constituencies.

Polling took place over three phases starting on September 18.

“People have supported us more than our expectations. Now our efforts will be to prove that we are worth these votes,” Omar Abdullah, the NC leader and the region’s former chief minister, told reporters in the main city of Srinagar.

His father and president of the party, Farooq Abdullah, said its mandate was to run the region without “police raj” rule and try freeing people from jails. “Media will be free,” he said.

Hundreds of NC workers gathered outside counting centres and at the homes of the winning candidates to celebrate the party’s victory.

Kashmir has been at the centre of a dispute with neighbouring Pakistan since 1947. India and Pakistan both claim the region in full but rule it in part after having fought two of their three wars over the region.

Restoration of ‘political rights’?

Some saw the vote as a de facto referendum on the federal government’s decision to repeal the territory’s special status.

The move downgraded and divided the former state into two centrally governed union territories, Ladakh and Jammu-Kashmir.

“The people have given their judgement against what New Delhi did,” social activist Iqbal Ahmad Bhat told the AFP news agency.

Resident Jahangir Ahmad told AFP that he hoped “political rights will be restored” in the state after the NC-led alliance’s victory.

Nevertheless, critics said the assembly has only nominal powers over education and culture. New Delhi also has the power to override legislation and will continue to appoint the governor.

The BJP won all its seats in the southern Hindu-majority region of Jammu.

Modi said he was “proud” of the BJP’s performance, saying that enthusiasm for the election was reflective of “the people’s belief in democracy”.

BJP victory expected in Haryana

In legislative elections held on Tuesday in the state of Haryana, the BJP appeared to be heading for victory, according to preliminary results shared by the Election Commission.

The BJP was leading in 50 constituencies and the Congress in 35 out of 90. So far in the vote counting, the BJP has won 18 seats and is leading in 32 constituencies while the Congress has won 15 seats and is leading in 20, according to the commission.

A victory would give the BJP a record third win in the state, which it is set to govern for the next five years.

The results in Haryana state are a surprise because most exit polls had predicted an easy victory for the Congress party.