ofcourse once the guy is defeated you start discrediting him as pseudo separatist. if he had won you'd running around celebrating that as proof of what people there want.
Don't tell me you think you know what I would have done...nothing more that Indian imperialist arrogance.
I could care less about politicians who have been hinting at settling for autonomy for years, who just just a few months ago were swearing on the Quran that they had nothing to with candidates running in the state assembly elections, and then turn around and run themselves. In any case, your desperate attempt to grasp at straws has left you unable to see the forest for the trees; you focus on the defeat of one politician in an election that 70% of Kashmiris rejected anyways.
but everything I've read about this recent election and the one before indicates they were clean.
Then, not surprisingly, you haven't read enough.
There were plenty of reports of forced voting in the state assembly elections, both in the Kashmiri media, and in international outlets like the Wall Street Journal, whose reporters witnessed firsthand police and paramilitary forces trying to round up villagers and force them to vote. Indian forces were also condemned by Reporters Without Borders and other NGO's for specifically threatening, detaining, and attacking journalists and photographers trying to cover those elections and the numerous protests that ensued.
Are you in J&K or POK?
Indian occupied Kashmir.