The National Conference-Congress alliance has secured a victory in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Kargil (LAHDC-K) election, marking a setback for the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) efforts to expand its presence in the region. This is the first direct message given by Kargil voters after being brought under the direct jurisdiction of the Centre in August 2019.
In August 2019, the central government ended the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divided the state, adding Muslim-majority Kargil and Buddhist-majority Leh districts to the Ladakh Union Territory. The BJP had emerged victorious in the 2020 LAHDC-Leh election. However, the parties in Jammu and Kashmir have called for elections in these regions, including Ladakh. If the NC and Congress win 12 and 10 seats respectively in the 26-member council, it would be a satisfactory outcome for the BJP, as they won two seats. The fact that the voter turnout in this election stands at 77.61% and the return of voters who had migrated to various parts of the country shows the seriousness with which people have approached this election. There are a total of 74,026 registered voters in Kargil, who reside in remote mountainous regions.
Over the past four years, the Buddhists and Shia Muslims have been fighting unitedly for the special status of Ladakh under the A-370 struggle for the protection of land, culture, employment, language, and environment, just like their counterparts in Jammu and Kashmir. BJP has been fighting for special status or complete statehood for Leh and Kargil in view of its development programs, especially through the construction of roads, new educational institutions, and low-level employment opportunities to benefit the locals. The NC had seen this election as a reprisal based on the public opinion of the J&K reorganization in 2019. In earlier years, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had shown his support for the demands made by the Congress Democratic Alliance (CDA), which consisted of various socio-political-religious groups, for special legal protection, constitutional validity, and a separate Lok Sabha seat for Ladakh. There is currently one Lok Sabha representative for Leh and Kargil, which includes these areas. Local voters in Kargil have made it clear to the BJP that Ladakh’s identity is an emotional issue, and no matter how much progress is made without the protection of its culture, constitutional validity, and elected legislature, it will be of no use.
