Voting Set For Nov 21; Hill Councils Reorganized Across 8 Districts
Leh | October, 21: The State Election Commission of Ladakh on Wednesday announced that elections to all Panchayat Halqas across the Union Territory will take place on November 21, with the official notification scheduled for issuance on October 26.
Releasing the timeline, State Election Commissioner Sudhanshu Pandey stated that nomination filings will close on November 2, followed by scrutiny on November 3 and withdrawals by November 5. The election process will wrap up by November 30, with the Model Code of Conduct taking immediate effect across the region, officials said.
Simultaneously, the UT administration ordered the immediate dissolution of the erstwhile Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil. The decision follows the resignation of its Chief Executive Councillor, three Executive Councillors, and six Councillors, alongside administrative changes stemming from the creation of new districts like Drass, Zanskar, and Sankoo.
Interim powers of the dissolved Kargil council have been temporarily assigned to the Deputy Commissioner/CEO of Kargil. Furthermore, the administration notified 100 elected constituencies across eight districts for future Hill Development Councils, assigning 22 seats to Leh, 21 to Kargil, 13 to Sankoo, 10 to Changthang, nine each to Nubra, Sham, and Zanskar, and seven to Drass, sources said.
