On October 26, the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged victorious in elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council in Leh. With 15...
On October 26, the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged victorious in elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council in Leh. With 15 out of 26 seats, however, the party won three less seats than in the last hill council elections, held in 2015. These were the first elections held after Ladakh became a Union Territory carved out of the old state of Jammu and Kashmir. Union Territory status has been a longstanding demand in Buddhist-majority Leh district.
The elections saw a fierce contest with the Congress, which improved its tally to nine seats. Independent candidates got two seats. Regional players such as the National Conference and the People’s Democratic Party got no seats. Neither did the Aam Aadmi Party, which made its debut in Ladakh these elections. About 65% of the approximately 90,000-strong electorate had voted in Leh on October 22.
The elections were held in the backdrop of cross-border tensions with China in Eastern Ladakh. More crucially for local politics, they took place amid anxieties about losing special protections for Ladakhis as the Centre downgraded and divided the former state of Jammu and Kashmir.
“The BJP has won from rural and far-flung areas,” said Chozang Namgial, a young entrepreneur based in the town of...
