Vikrant Shekhawat : Oct 04, 2023, 01:49 PM
Voting in Ladakh: Voting is taking place today on 26 seats of Ladakh for the fifth Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Kargil. This is the first major voting to be held in Ladakh as a Union Territory after the removal of Article 370 in August 2019. 85 candidates are in the fray for 26 seats of LAHDC in Kargil. This election is going to see a fight between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the National Conference-Congress alliance. There is a lot of enthusiasm among the voters regarding this election. Long queues are being seen at polling booths.Administration appointed four councilorsAccording to election officials, polling will be held from 8 am to 4 pm in which 95,388 voters, including 46,762 women, will cast their votes. A total of 85 candidates are in the fray for 26 seats of the 30-member Hill Council. Four councilors having voting rights are nominated by the administration. National Conference and Congress had announced pre-poll alliance but both have fielded 17 (NC) and 22 (Congress) candidates. Both the parties said that this agreement has been reached for those areas where there is tough competition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). BJP had won one seat in the last elections, but two PDP councilors joined its fold, increasing its tally to three. This time BJP has fielded 17 candidates in the elections.Counting of votes will take place on October 8Officials said that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is trying its luck on four seats while 25 independent candidates are also in the fray. Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) is being used for the first time for council elections. According to election officials, out of 278 polling stations set up across the district, 114 are hypersensitive and 99 are sensitive. Additional companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) have already been deployed and are performing their duty to ensure peaceful polling. Counting of votes will take place on October 8 and the new council will be formed before October 11.