Four political parties contesting election; main fight between BJP, Cong
The stage is set for the fifth election to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, which governs the district politically. Amid tight security arrangements, 26 constituencies of the Council will go to the polls tomorrow.
Over 81,000 electors will decide the fate of 90 candidates, including 25 each from the Congress and the BJP, eight each from the National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party and 24 Independents. As many as five women are in the fray.
“All the arrangements for conducting the polls are in place. Adequate security has been made in and around each polling station to ensue hassle-free and incident-free polling,” said the Election Authority, Prasanna Ramaswamy G, who is also the Deputy Commissioner, Leh.
The District Election Officer, RK Badyal, who is also the Deputy Additional Commissioner, Leh, said 81,131 electors, including 40,276 women, are eligible to decide the fate of 90 candidates. The polling will take place from 8 am to 4 pm”, he said.
A total of 4,102 electors will exercise their franchise through the postal ballot. The voters will be given ballot papers to cast their votes.
Although four political parties are contesting the election, the main fight is between the BJP and the Congress. There have been differences between the PDP and the BJP —the ruling alliance partners in the state government — in Leh district as both parties have been contesting the polls separately, while the Congress suffered a setback after some senior leaders of the party resigned from the party a few days ago.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for the elections. Several companies of the ITBP, CRPF, J&K Police and Indian Reserve Police have been deployed to ensure a free and fair election in 274 polling stations. Hyper sensitive polling stations will be manned by the CRPF.
