The Supreme Court on Wednesday nixed the election notification for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) for Kargil, holding the process to be flawed.
A bench of justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah directed the election commission for the Union territory and the Centre to issue a fresh notification and the new election schedule within a week.
It further held that the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference is entitled to the ‘plough’ symbol while imposing a monetary penalty of ₹1 lakh on the Ladakh Administration for challenging the high court order that ruled in its favour allowing the party candidates to contest the LAHDC-Kargil polls on its plough symbol.
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On September 1, the apex court reserved its verdict on the NC’s plea challenging the denial of the party’s symbol to its candidates for the LAHDC-Kargil polls.
A detailed copy of the Supreme Court judgement is expected to be released later on Wednesday.
The NC has been recognised as a “state party” for the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state.
After the scrapping of its special status, the state was split into the UTs of J&K and Ladakh – comprising the districts of Leh and Kargil – in August 2019.
{{/usCountry}}After the scrapping of its special status, the state was split into the UTs of J&K and Ladakh – comprising the districts of Leh and Kargil – in August 2019.
{{/usCountry}}In its arguments against reserving the plough symbol for the NC, the Ladakh administration says that no state party, including the NC, is a recognised party in Ladakh, and that the NC could therefore not claim its plough symbol in the UT.
On its part, the NC however says that as the incumbent in Kargil’s hill development council it wants to contest elections on the symbol that was previously allotted to and reserved for the party.