The upcoming hill council elections in Kargil are set to reflect the mood of the region post August 5, 2019. They are the first polls to be held since the Union government carved out Ladakh from the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir and made it a Union Territory without an Assembly.
The elections to the 30-member Ladakh Hill Development Council-Kargil (LAHDC-K), which looks after the governance issues locally, are going to be a direct contest between the National Conference (NC)-Congress combine and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The polls for 26 seats are scheduled for September 10 and the counting of votes will take place four days later. The other four seats are nominated.
The constituents of the People’s Alliance for the Gupkar Declaration (PAGD), an amalgam of regional political parties fighting for the restoration of the pre-August 5, 2019 position in J&K, have decided not to contest the polls together. They had contested the District Development Council polls in Jammu and Kashmir together in 2020.
