SRINAGAR: As Ladakh gears up for panchayat and municipal polls, the Leh Apex Body (LAB) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), which are spearheading agitation for Union Territory-level elected body and constitutional safeguards for the UT, have decided to stay neutral, saying they will neither support nor oppose candidates or political parties contesting the elections.
The decision comes as the administration has announced November 21 as polling date for panchayats and municipal committees in the UT. According to Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Ladakh, Rahul Sharma, the electoral roll revision process for municipal committees of Leh and Kargil was undertaken for 21 wards of municipal committee Leh and 17 wards of municipal committee Kargil and the final electoral rolls for both were published on October 22.
The notification for elections to Municipal Committees of Leh and Kargil was issued October 29 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is November 9. The polling for both Municipal Committees will be held on November 21 and the entire election process is scheduled to be completed by November 30.
The State Election Commission, Ladakh has also announced that elections to all panchayat halqas in UT will be held on November 21, with the entire poll process scheduled to be completed by November 30.
Meanwhile, both LAB and KDA, which are spearheading agitation in Ladakh for constitutional safeguards and UT-level elected body and are engaged in dialogue with the Ministry of Home Affairs, have decided to stay neutral.
LAB chairman Chering Dorjay told this newspaper that since Apex Body is apolitical, it won’t be supporting anybody. “We will neither be extending support to any candidate or political party. We will neither be opposing nor supporting it,” he said.
However, senior Ladakh Congress leader and former Union Minister Rigzin Jora termed the elections a “referendum” on whether the people of the UT want an elected Assembly of their representatives or continuation of the present bureaucratic setup under the LG administration, whether they want to safeguard their land, identity, environment and ecology.
It will be the first municipal and panchayat polls in Ladakh post Article 370 abrogation.