Voting to elect sixth Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Leh began at 8 am on Thursday and about 8% votes had been polled in the first two hours to decide the outcome of a straight contest between arch-rivals BJP and the Congress to rule the 30-member council.“
8% voting was recorded till 10 am in all the 26 constituencies. People are turning up in all the 294 booths and the polling is going on smoothly,” said additional district commissioner Sonam Chosjor, also the returning officer for the polls.He said there were no adverse reports from any of the 294 polling booths till 10 am in the vast Leh district, where the temperature plummets to sub-zero in the night. “We had made all the arrangements in advance. Polling parties along with polling material and security personnel had reached the 294 booths set up in 26 constituencies in advan ce,” Chosjor said. Out of the 294 polling booths, 15 have been identified as hypersensitive, while 45 are classified as sensitive.
A total of 89,788 voters will elect 26 councillors to the LAHDC, while four will get nominated to the 30-member council. 94 candidates are in the fray for the 26 seats, the results for which will be declared on October 26.The ADC also informed that as a special arrangement for elderly voters above the age of 65 and for the differently-abled, the administration had reached out to them on October 13 and 14 for advance casting of votes.“Our teams took personal ballots from them at their homes,” he said, and added that around 1,000 elderly voters including 104-year-old Abe Tsering of Kunjus had availed the facility.
For the first time in the history of LAHDC polls, votes are being cast using electronic voting machines (EVMs). BJP and Congress have fielded their candidates on all the 26 constituencies while Aam Aadmi Party has fielded 19 candidates. 23 independents are also in the fray.