Despite a boycott call by separatists and armed rebels, more than 60 percent of voters participated in the multi-stage elections which came after a period of direct rule from New Delhi.

"The large turnout is a vote for democracy. It is a vote for national integration. Therefore, we are all happy," Singh told reporters in New Delhi.

The elections had to be held in seven stages to ensure security in the Himalayan region, where at least 47,000 people have been killed in violence linked to a long-running Muslim insurgency against Indian rule.

"It does not matter who wins, what matters is that the people of the valley... have expressed their faith in the democratic system," said ruling Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi.

"It is a lesson to be learnt by our neighbours," Gandhi said -- a reference to Pakistan.

India and Pakistan's rival claims to Kashmir have triggered two wars and the region remains divided between the two countries.

Separatists argue that government provided an "uneven playfield" for the elections.

"The government showed a selective acceptance of democracy. Political leaders pursuing the boycott call were jailed or put under house arrest," said Sajad Lone, the head of separatist Peoples Conference.

"Undeclared curfew, thwarting of peaceful marches and the armed siege of Kashmir have eroded the credibility of the voting percentage," he said, talking of a massive security clampdown during the seven stage voting.

Many voters interviewed by AFP said they had voted for better roads and schools and not necessarily for New Delhi.

At the end of the counting of votes on Sunday no single party emerged in a position to form the government on its own.

The regional National Conference (NC) won 28 of the assembly's 87 seats, the Indian Election Commission said in a statement.

Reformist Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) secured 21 seats and the Congress managed victory in 17 seats.

The rivals NC and PDP are unlikely to team up and form a coalition, so Congress is likely to play a key role in the formation of the new government.

Congress and PDP ruled the Muslim-majority state in an alliance between 2002 and July 2008, when New Delhi imposed federal rule after the local government collapsed amid a land row involving a Hindu pilgrim trust.

The right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was declared winner in eleven constituencies in the Hindu-dominated Kashmiri region of Jammu. In the last elections it won only one seat.

Independent candidates won the remaining seats.

National Conference chief Omar Abdullah said his party would prefer an alliance with the "like-minded" Congress party.

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