BJP Wins Ladakh Hill Autonomous Development Council Elections, JP Nadda Terms Victory Historic

The BJP has won the Ladakh Hill Autonomous Development Council Elections held on October 22. The ruling party at the center has secured 15 out of 26 seats emerging as the single largest party, while congress managed to win 9 seats remaining two seats were won by independent candidates.

Leh: The Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) on Monday, won the majority and emerged as the single largest party in Ladakh Autonomous Development Council Elections (LAHC). The ruling party at the center bagged 15 out of the 26-seat council. While congress managed to secure 9 seats and remaining 2 seats were won by independent candidates.

The region witnessed the council as the very first election after the Ladakh region was separated from the state of Jammu and Kashmir and was transformed into an independent Union Territory.

Congratulating the party’s victory, BJP Chief JP Nadda took to twitter and termed the party’s victory “Historic”.


What is Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council?

The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) is an autonomous district council and was formed to administers the Leh district of Ladakh. The council was constituted in accordance with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1995.

LAHDC-Leh has a total of 30 seats and four councilors are nominated by the government. Kargil district of Ladakh had a separate hill council that was elected in 2018 for a five-year term.

When were LAHDC polls held?

The 6th Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) elections were held on Thursday, October 22. With as many as 94 candidates in the fray, including 26 each of the BJP and Congress.

Besides the Congress and BJP, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) for the first time also tried its luck by fielding 19 candidates, while the rest of the 23 contestants were independents.

Regional parties including National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chose to stay away from the election.

With more than 65.07 percent of the 89,776-strong electorate exercised their franchise in 294 polling stations spread over 26 constituencies across Leh district on Thursday.

The counting was conducted at the Amphitheatre of SSK, Tisuru, Leh on Monday.

Who held LAHDC earlier?

Congress Since the formation of the hill council in 1995 had swept the polls thrice, while in 2005 the Ladakh Union Territorial Front had won the elections. The BJP got control of the council from Congress for the first time in the last elections by winning 18 out of 26 seats.