The return of Kargil’s migrant population, comprising over 6,000 students and hundreds of professionals, for elections, spiked voter turnout to a record 78% in the fifth Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Kargil (LAHDC-K) polls on Wednesday.
The LAHDC-K polls saw an 8% increase in voting percentage compared to 70% during the 2018 council election. This was made possible by families like that of Muzaffar Ali from Kaksar village. “My son, a soldier posted in New Delhi and my cousin, a CRPF jawan in Assam, returned to Kargil for the polls like many others in my village Kaksar,” Muzaffar Ali said. “It was an important election and they could not have missed it,” he added.