Srinagar: Until recently Ghulam Mohiudin Sofi was fighting for Kashmir's freedom from India, but now he is one of 161 candidates in the first phase of Indian-held elections for a new government in the disputed region.

Sofi was a senior leader of the People's Conference -- an important constituent of Kashmir's main separatist alliance the All Parties Hurriyat Conference -- before he resigned from the party in August.

The Hurriyat is boycotting the four-phase polling beginning on September 16, while Muslim terrorists have threatened participants with death.

They have already killed two candidates, including Kashmir's Law and Parliamentary Minister, and more than a dozen political workers over the past three weeks, and injured many others.

"I am in the poll fray to save my people from further death and destruction," said Sofi, who is opposing the ruling National Conference (NC) candidate Choudhary Mohammed Ramzan, the state's Agriculture Minister, in Kupwara district.

"More so I want to purge the people of the state from the atrocities and the exploitation of the ruling party," he said

Sofi has been drawing bigger crowds to his speeches than his rivals.

"How can you sustain a fight for azadi (freedom) when you are being squeezed through different means?" he asked. "We first have to secure azadi from the National Conference."

Sofi said he had told his party it should contest polls after US Secretary of State Colin Powell said separatists should take part in the upcoming elections to prove their representative character.

"I decided to go alone only when the party didn't agree."

There are at least five other separatists in the fray for the first phase of the polls.

Kashmir analysts say the elections -- the second since Islamic militancy against India began in 1989 -- will be a test of popularity for politicians and the separatists.

Unlike in the 1996 state elections, the Hurriyat has not campaigned door-to-door to enforce its boycott. However, its leaders have been urging people to stay away.

"Such polls in the past have not resolved the Kashmir issue," said Umar Farooq, Kashmir's a member of the Hurriyat, from the pulpit of a mosque.

Outside the Hurriyat, Shabir Shah, who has spent more than 20 years in different prisons for espousing Kashmir's independence, is also against the elections.

Heading the bandwagon countering the separatists is the ruling NC, headed by India's Minister of state for External Affairs Omar Abdullah.

Omar's 65-year-old father, Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, has decided to step down after the elections but is also campaigning for his party, which he headed until June.

The father and son have been attracting crowds to their rallies all over the state.

Mehbooba Mufti's People's Democratic Party is also carving out a niche in the volatile politics of Kashmir.

Leaders like Mufti, Omar Abdullah and Umar Farooq are part of a generation of young politicians bringing fresh hope to politics in region.

"The young leaders, be they from pro-India groups or the Hurriyat, will bring fresh ideas and perhaps flexibility that will help in resolving the issue of Kashmir," said analyst Showket Ahmed.

Kashmir university student Aasiya Ahmed said she thought the new politicians could usher in a brighter future for Kashmir.

"We are heading towards a generational shift in Kashmir politics," she said. "And may be they succeed where their elders failed."