The killing in Anantnag district of India’s only Muslim-majority state is the latest in a string of attacks to have marred the election which began last month.
The militants opened fire on Gul Mohammad Mir, who belonged to a local unit of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party, at his house in south Kashmir on Saturday night. Police called it a “terror crime” and Modi condemned Mir’s killing in a Twitter post Sunday, saying “there is no place for such violence in our country.”
Police said a polling station to be used in Monday’s voting was set ablaze in the nearby Shopian area.
Voter turnout in Indian Kashmir has barely crossed 10 percent in the previous rounds, and Anantnag is expected to suffer on Monday – the fifth round of voting in the 6-week-long election which ends May 19. Results are to be released four days later.
Political killings are common in India’s bitterly fought elections with party and regional rivalries often boiling over.
The National Crime Records Bureau says there were more than 100 political murders in 2016.
Kerala state in the south and Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the north are the worst for political murders.
Monday’s voting will be held in 51 constituencies across seven states, including Uttar Pradesh – India’s biggest state which accounts for 80 of the 543 lawmakers decided in the election.
Amethi, the family borough of India’s main opposition leader Rahul Gandhi in Uttar Pradesh, also votes Monday.
Gandhi, who has focussed on attacking Modi’s economic policies, is seeking to become the fourth member of his family to take the prime minister’s office.
He has pledged to end abject poverty by 2030 and give cash transfers to 50 million families.
