Ladakh to hold panchayat polls to address 'democratic vacuum', district council elections next

SRINAGAR: A day after Ladakh representatives met officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) in New Delhi, the Ladakh administration on Thursday announced that it would recommend to the Election Commission to initiate the panchayat election process in the Union Territory. Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra said the move was aimed at addressing the 'democratic vacuum' in the region.

Speaking to media persons in Leh, Kundra said the Election Commission would first revise the electoral rolls before issuing a formal notification for the panchayat polls. He added that the administration was committed to fulfilling its constitutional and legal obligations to strengthen democratic institutions in Ladakh.

Currently, only the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in Kargil has an elected body. Elections to the LAHDC in Leh could not be held following the violence on September 24 last year, in which four people were killed. The protests were demanding Sixth Schedule protection and statehood for the region.

Kundra said the central government has made it clear that all possible steps should be taken to strengthen democracy in Ladakh so that people do not feel their democratic aspirations are unfulfilled. 'The first link in that process is panchayat elections, which will now be held,' he said. The next step, he added, would be to establish district councils in all seven districts of Ladakh.

Referring to Wednesday's meeting between MHA officials and representatives of the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance, Kundra described the discussions as being held in an 'open atmosphere'. The Ladakh representatives reiterated their demand for a legislative assembly headed by a chief minister, and also called for the withdrawal of cases against those booked in connection with the September 24 violence.

Kundra said that in a previous meeting on July 3, a consensus had emerged on forming a Union Territory-level body for Ladakh. He described this body as 'sui generis', meaning there would be no parallel or identical model elsewhere in India. However, he noted that forming such a body would take time as it would require a constitutional amendment.

'At the same time, we do not want a democratic vacuum to continue here. That is why we have decided to start the process of strengthening the existing democratic institutions,' Kundra said, emphasising that the administration was taking a step-by-step approach.

Political observers note that Ladakh has been without a fully elected local governance structure since the abrogation of Article 370 in 2019, when it was made a Union Territory. The demand for statehood and constitutional safeguards has been a recurring theme among civil society groups in the region. The announcement of panchayat polls is being seen as a first step towards restoring representative governance at the grassroots level.