LEH, Occupied Kashmir (Kashmir English): Political workers and civil society activists in Ladakh region of Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir have strongly condemned the decision of the local administration to indefinitely delay elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council–Leh (LAHDC-L), terming it a move to bail out the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has lost its political ground in the region.
According to Kashmir Media Service, the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which are jointly spearheading the movement for constitutional safeguards and democratic rights, said the delay has stripped Ladakh of its last democratic institution.
LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakrook said the administration must immediately announce an election schedule, calling the indefinite postponement “an attack on people’s democratic rights.”
An order issued by the law and justice department of the territory of Ladakh has handed the powers of the council to the deputy commissioner, leaving the district without any elected body except for its lone parliamentarian.
The term of the Leh council expired on October 31, while the Kargil council remains in place until 2028.
Ladakh’s fragile wildlife sanctuaries
Meanwhile, environmentalists have also warned that the government’s plan to create five new districts — Drass, Zanskar, Nubra, Changthang, and Sham — could threaten Ladakh’s fragile wildlife sanctuaries and increase the military footprint in the ecologically-sensitive border region.
Political commentators noted that the decision further exposes the erosion of democracy in Ladakh since it was separated from Jammu and Kashmir and downgraded to a Union Territory in 2019.
