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Ladakh’s hill council elections, and the opposition from groups in statehood talks with Centre
The groups want the December 4 vote held after winter and the map, revised after delimitation exercise, to be reviewed. The administration has defended both.
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Ladakh’s administration on Tuesday announced elections, due on December 4, to eight new hill councils, amid opposition from the two groups whose talks with the Centre on statehood for the region have stalled.
The groups have campaigned for statehood for Ladakh and its inclusion in the Constitution’s Sixth Schedule, which deals with the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram. Ladakh was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union territory in 2019.
Several rounds of their talks with the Union home ministry have failed to break the deadlock since September 24, 2025, when protests in Leh turned violent and protesters clashed with police. Four people were killed and more than 80 injured.
The groups want the council polls to be postponed until after winter and the new seat map – formed after a delimitation exercise – reviewed.
Ladakh chief secretary Ashish Kundra said on Tuesday that the council polls were a step towards deepening democracy, and would be a “turning point in the larger journey of democracy”. He added that an apex-level body, a representative body for the UT, was “also taking shape”.
What is Ladakh voting for?
The hill councils are elected district bodies set up under a 1997 law of the Jammu and Kashmir legislature. The law provided for a council in each of Ladakh’s two districts at the time, Leh and Kargil, with 26 elected members each.
In April this year the administration created five new districts, carving Nubra, Sham and Changthang out of Leh, and Zanskar and Drass out of Kargil. Sankoo is the eighth.
In October, the Centre changed the 1997 law through a presidential regulation to give every district a council. The eight councils have 100 elected seats in all, against 52 before. Leh has 22 and Kargil 21, while the six new councils have between seven and 13.
Nominations close on November 17, and polling runs from 8am to 5pm on December 4. Ladakh also votes on November 21 for panchayats, or village councils, and for the Leh and Kargil municipal committees.
The last panchayat polls were held in 2018 and LAHDC polls in 2023.
What can the councils do?
Under the 1997 law, the councils decide on the allotment and use of land handed to them, and draw up district plans and budgets. They can also make bye-laws, which are local rules that need the administration’s approval.
Sajjad Kargili, co-chairman of the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA), an umbrella group of political, religious, trade and civil society organisations in Kargil, said on November 9 that the councils had been rendered ineffective through the withdrawal of their powers, PTI reported.
Also read: Ladakh Hill Council elections on December 4, counting process to conclude by December 8
Kundra rejected what he said were misleading perceptions that the councils would not have their full powers. He said the powers the councils held under the existing law would remain intact, and that they would also have the powers of a district panchayat under the 73rd Amendment to the Constitution, which deals with panchayats.
Why are Leh and Kargil groups opposing the polls?
The KDA and the Leh Apex Body (LAB) are the two groups in talks with the home ministry. The LAB is headed by Chering Dorjay Lakrook, president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association.
The timing: Ladakh’s Lok Sabha MP, Mohmad Haneefa Jan, wrote to Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena last week, warning that heavy snow and temperatures of -20°C to -25°C risked disenfranchising a large part of the electorate. He told reporters that about 20-25% of Ladakh’s population leaves the region in winter, and his letter named senior citizens and students among those who migrate. “I have already raised our concerns with the lieutenant governor and the chief electoral officer, but it seems they are adamant to go ahead with the polls in December,” he said.
Kundra said schools in Ladakh usually stay open until December 15 or 16, and that adults should have no particular difficulty voting on December 4. He said deputy commissioners, the officials who run the districts, had been told to arrange heating at polling stations and separate queues for senior citizens.
Councils formed after these elections would also have from January to March to prepare next year’s budget, he said. “If the councils are constituted after that, the entire budget preparation cycle could be missed, potentially delaying the process by a full year,” he said at a press conference in Leh on Tuesday.
The seat map: Both KDA and LAB want a review of delimitation, the exercise that drew the new constituency boundaries. Kargili alleged “gerrymandering”, the drawing of boundaries to favour one side.
Kundra said the number of seats for every district followed a prescribed formula, and that the State Election Commission (SEC) drew the boundaries. He called the exercise balanced and fair. “Minor difficulties and grievances may arise, but everyone should participate in the larger cause,” he said.
Decision-making: The KDA accuses the administration of imposing decisions unilaterally. “The politics of imposing decisions on the people of Ladakh must come to an end,” Kargili told reporters.
Kundra said the demand to notify panchayat elections had been raised at one of the meetings with the home ministry’s sub-committee, and the administration had acted on it. “There is no intention whatsoever to undermine the ongoing dialogue process. However, other democratic institutions also need to be constituted,” he said.
The stalled talks: Lakrook said the home ministry had scheduled a meeting of its sub-committee with the groups for October 22, but they had not received a formal invitation. “We have started to realise that the home ministry is not sincere in resolving the issue,” he said.
Kundra said the next round had been referred to the SEC for clearance, as the model code of conduct, the rules that restrict government decisions during an election, is in force. The talks would take place after the polls, he said, and the apex-level body should not hold up other elections. “Should we stop holding other elections until that body is fully constituted? I do not think that would be appropriate.”
What happens next?
The Ladakh Buddhist Association and the Ladakh Gompa Association are set to boycott the coming elections, Lakrook said, while the Ladakh Nambardar Association has joined the boycott of the November 21 polls. Lakrook has announced a fresh phase of agitation. Kundra has asked leaders in Leh and Kargil to take part in the vote and show the Centre “that they want democracy”.
