NC-Congress Alliance Sweeps Ladakh Poll (Image:twitter/OmarAbdullah)
The National Conference-Congress alliance on Sunday swept out the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Kargil election with a win of 22 seats out of the total 26. This was the first ever polls held since 2019 when Ladakh was chopped out from the special status. Meanwhile the Bharatiya Janata party (BJP), the ruling political party in India under the incumbent Prime Minister Narendra Modi, managed to secure only two seats.
The National Conference (NC) is a regional party in the Indian union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, and is a part of the pan-India oppositional alliance INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance). NC bagged 12 seats in Ladakh while Congress won 10 and BJP suffered with 2. The other two seats were secured by 2 independent candidates.
The NC-Congress alliance lost to the BJP in one of the seats where they contested against each other. The Ladakh Council went to polls on Wednesday, October 4. And the premise witnessed 77.61% voter turnout on the poll day. The electorate of 74,026 people including 46,762 women decided the fate of 85 candidates.
It was the first key poll after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5, 2019, which established Ladakh as a Union Territory. The previous council was held by Feroz Ahmad Khan of NC and he completed a five-year-term on October 1. The currently elected members will start leading the council from October 11.
BJP fielded 17 candidates, but the attempt remained dissatisfied. The party won one seat in the last election but managed to increase its tally to three by incorporating two PDP Councilors.
Congress analysed the victory as the combined effect of newly formed opposition bloc INDIA as well as the Rahul Gandhi led mass movement Bharat Jodo Yatra. Congress leader and MP Jairam Ramesh on Sunday took to his X (formerly Twitter) that the party managed to convince the Ladakh people that led to an ‘’almost complete wipeout of the BJP’’.
The national media of course will blank it out, but trends coming in show Congress leading convincingly in the elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil with an almost complete wipeout of the BJP. This is a direct impact of @RahulGandhi continuing…
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) October 8, 2023
Omar Abdullah, J&K NC leader and former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, on X expressed a ‘’Thank You’’ note. “The BJP was dealt a resounding defeat at the hands of the NC-Congress alliance in Kargil today…This result sends a message to all forces and parties that have, undemocratically and unconstitutionally, divided the state of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh without the consent of its people””, he added.
The BJP was dealt a resounding defeat at the hands of the NC-Congress alliance in Kargil today. In celebration of our strong alliance with the Congress party, the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference is delighted to announce its victory in the LAHDC Kargil elections. This result…
— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) October 8, 2023
