While the five-year term of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Leh is coming to an end in three weeks, fresh elections for the key hill body in the Union Territory (UT) are not likely to take place this year.
In the wake of the recent violence in the region, sources said the Leh hill council elections would now be conducted only next year. The UT administration is now likely to extend the term of the existing LAHDC-Leh by six months, sources added.
On September 24, four people were killed in police firing in Leh during protests for statehood and Sixth Schedule safeguards for Ladakh, which turned violent leading to torching of the BJP office.
In the Ladakh administration’s subsequent crackdown, climate activist Sonam Wangchuk was detained under the National Security Act (NSA) and sent to a Jodhpur jail.
Subsequently, a crucial meeting between the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ladakh’s leading civil society organisations – Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) – as part of the High Powered Committee (HPC) did not happen as the latter pulled out of talks scheduled for October 6.
The LAB and the KDA have been spearheading the campaign for statehood and Sixth Schedule status for Ladakh.
The elections to the BJP-ruled LAHDC-Leh were expected in October as its term is expiring on November 2.
In 2020, the notification for the Leh hill council polls was issued on September 19 with the polling held on October 26. The Ladakh administration has a short window now to hold these polls as the onset of winter is round the corner, when the temperatures in Leh plummet to minus 20 degrees Celsius.
The LAHDC Act 1997 allows the administration to extend the hill council’s tenure by one year.
“The term of member, elected or nominated, shall be five years unless the Council is dissolved under section 52…,” says the LAHDC Act 1997. “Provided that the said period of five years may, if circumstances exist which in the opinion of the government, render the holding of elections not practicable, be extended for a further period not exceeding one year.”
Sources said while the administration was already mulling deferment of the polls, the prevailing tense situation in Leh following the September 24 violence has given it a “strong ground to do it by claiming that the holding of elections is not practicable now”.
“The BJP is averse to holding the elections now because they fear a rout,” sources said. “The administration was already thinking of extending the term of the Council by six months hoping that some middle ground would be reached with the LAB by then.”
Senior BJP leader and Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of the LAHDC-Leh Tashi Gyalson told The Indian Express that the LAHDC Act allows the administration to extend the hill council’s term if needed. “Yes, it (term) can be extended but no such recommendation has gone yet,” Gyalson said. “If the term is extended, the existing council would continue to work and a caretaker would be appointed.”
LAB co-chairman Chhering Dorje Lakruk too said that it is unlikely that the hill council polls would be held now. “We too have heard that they are not holding elections on time,” said Lakruk, who is also the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA) president.
The LAHDC-Leh, which is mandated to administer the Leh district, has 26 elected members and four nominated seats. In the 2020 polls, the BJP had bagged 15 seats of 26 and the Congress 9, with two seats won by Independents.
