Counting of votes for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Leh, which governs the district politically, will be conducted tomorrow and results are likely to be available by 4 pm.
The ruling alliance partner BJP and the Congress are locked in a straight contest in the election, which was held on October 17. The counting of votes, polled in all 26 constituencies of the Leh Council, will be held at Government Degree College, Leh.
The counting process will be completed in two phases. The overall poll percentage in the Leh Council elections was 65.49 per cent.
A total of 53,134 out of the total 81,134 voters (40,858 men and 40,276 women) cast their vote to decide the fate of 90 candidates in the fray.
Of the total 53,134 voters, who participated in the elections, the number of women electors was 27,900 against 25,234 male voters.
“We have divided counting process in two phases. The counting of votes will begin at 8 am tomorrow. In the first phase, the votes polled in 13 constituencies of the Council will be counted and we are expecting to get results of these constituencies by the noon,” said the District Election Officer Rakesh Kumar Badyal, who is also the Leh Additional Deputy Commissioner.
He said the counting of votes for remaining 13 constituencies would begin around 12:30 pm and results were likely to be announced by 4 pm. He further said 26 counting tables (two each for a constituency) have been set up, which would be manned by a supervisor. “The votes of two polling stations of each constituency will simultaneously be taken up for counting,” Badyal said.
Sources said the district administration had made elaborate security arrangements for incident-free counting.
“The administration has appointed a Magistrate and deployed adequate police and ITBP personnel for smooth conduct of counting,” a source said.
The source said, in view of the Moharram procession in Leh, the election authorities have decided to complete the counting of votes from all the constituencies falling in the vicinity of the town in the first phase.
Counting of votes from far-flung constituencies will be taken up in the second phase, he said. The outgoing Leh Council was formed by the Congress under the leadership of Rigzin Spalbar with 22 seats. The BJP had won only four seats in the previous election.
Both the BJP and the Congress had fielded 25 candidates each in the poll, while the National Conference and the PDP are contesting on eight seats each.
There are also 24 Independents, including 15 candidates of the newly formed Ladakh-based political party — New Ladakh Movement — in the fray. First time in the history of the Council, five women contestants are competing in the LAHDC elections.
