Ladakh gears up for 3 major elections
Process to be set in motion by UT Admn shortly
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, May 12: The Union Territory Administration and Election Department of Ladakh have geared up to hold three major elections in next few months including prestigious polls to Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Kargil, 193 Panchayats and two Municipalities in the UT.
Twenty-six member LAHDC Kargil is completing its five-year term in August while 193 Panchayats—98 in Kargil district and 95 in Leh district and one Municipality each in the two districts will be due for elections in September-October, official sources told the Excelsior.
An announcement for elections to the LAHDC Kargil is expected to be made by the Election Department in the month of July, they said adding the UT Administration will take a decision on conduct of Municipal and Panchayat polls before their dates are announced.
LAHDC Kargil has strength of 30 Councilors, 26 of whom are elected while four are nominated by the administration. All 30, however, have the voting rights.
LAHDC Kargil is presently ruled by National Conference with Feroz Khan as Chairman-cum-CEC. However, a BJP Councilor has also been made the Executive Councilor.
In August 2018 elections, National Conference had emerged single largest party with 10 Councilors, followed by Congress eight, PDP two, BJP one and Independents five. With nomination of four Councilors, the BJP strength had gone up to five. Initially, NC and Congress joined hands to form the City Government with 18 Councillors but later the NC parted ways with Congress and got majority with the support of Independents and BJP members.
As both National Conference and Congress are part of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) now, which is spearheading agitation along with Leh Apex Body (LAB) for Statehood, Sixth Schedule, two Parliamentary seats and employment for Ladakh, a possibility of alliance between the two parties for LAHDC Kargil elections can’t be ruled out.
National Conference leader Feroz Khan, who is Chairman-cum-CEC of LAHDC Kargil since its formation in September 2018, has also served as Minister in NC-Congress coalition Government in erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and could lead the NC campaign in the elections.
LAHDC Leh is being ruled by the BJP for second consecutive term.
LAHDC Leh had come into effect in 1995 while LAHDC Kargil came into existence in 2003. Both the Councils have five-year term.
Sources said the delimitation of 26 constituencies of LAHDC Kargil is unlikely this time. However, the voter lists will be updated as per schedule.
As far as the elections to Municipalities and Panchayats are concerned, sources said the UT Administration will take a decision on them. However, going by weather conditions in Ladakh, the elections to them can be held in September-October.
Ladakh has only two Municipalities–one each in Leh and Kargil towns and 193 Panchayats—98 in Kargil and 95 in Leh.
Last elections to them were held in September-November 2018 when Ladakh was part of erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir. However, it became a separate Union Territory on August 5, 2019 after bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir on August 5, 2019 when special status of J&K was abrogated by the Central Government.
“Delimitation for Panchayats and Municipalities can’t be ruled out if some reserved seats are to be rotated,” sources said.
As against three-tier system of Panchayati Raj in Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh has only two-tier system including Panchayats and Block Development Councils (BDCs). It doesn’t have third tier i.e. the District Development Councils (DDCs) as Leh and Kargil already have Autonomous Hill Development Councils.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to bank upon the grant of Union Territory (UT) status to Ladakh and developmental works undertaken in the UT by the Central Government and local administration while Opposition parties mainly NC and Congress could cash on their movement for grant of Statehood, Sixth Schedule, two Parliamentary seats and employment opportunities to Ladakh for which the Union Home Ministry has already set up a High Powered Committee.
Follow our WhatsApp channel
