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Kargil set for council polls on Oct 4, first since Article 370 repeal; BJP vs Congress-NC contest on cards

2023-10-06 00:00:00.0 铸币报-政治原网页

In a first since the repeal of Article 370, the Kargil wing of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) is set to go to polls on October 4.

The election, which can offer an insight into the electoral sentiment of the region ahead of the Lok Sabha elections next year, is primarily being seen as a battle between the Centre-ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the alliance of Congress and National Conference (NC).

The 30-member Kargil council comprises 26 seats for which elections are held, whereas, four other members of the local body are nominated.

In the last polls held in August 2018, the BJP had managed to win only 1 seat. However, its strength increased to three after two councillors of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) switched to the saffron camp following the abrogation of Article 370. Also, the four nominated members are considered to be pro-BJP.

The PDP, led by former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, currently does not have a presence in the Ladakh region and has opted out of the electoral race.

NC, which is the largest party in Kargil council with 10 members, and Congress with 8 councillors, had firmed up their alliance months in advance but decided to pit candidates against each other in seats where the BJP is not a key contender.

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While 17 candidates of the NC have filed their nominations, the Congress is contesting in 22 out of the 26 seats that will go polls. The BJP is also contesting in 17 seats.

Considering the small size of the electorate, candidates linked to smaller regional parties and independents also carry weight. In the last elections, five independent candidates had emerged as winners.

a€？BJP has no moral grounda€？

NC vice president Omar Abdullah on October 1 said the BJP has a€？no moral ground" to enter the electoral contest in Kargil. The party, he added, is responsible for unilaterally abolishing Article 370, which provided semi-autonomous status to the region, and degraded the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir into two Union territories a€“ J&K and Ladakh.

a€？We (the NC and the Congress) are fighting together to send a strong message to the people in the country that what happened on August 5, 2019, was undemocratic and based on injustice," Abdullah said, while addressing a gathering at Zero Point Mini Marg a€“ the point which separates the Union territories of J&K and Ladakh. His convoy was reportedly stopped from crossing into Kargil due to security reasons.

"With people's support, we are going to win the polls and they (BJP) are panicking which is evident by the way they are using every means to keep our candidates away from the public. Even my security was taken away on reaching Zero point," he alleged.

Kargil, with a population of 1.40 lakh, has Shia Muslims in the majority. Abdullah, in his address to the voters, accused the BJP is discriminating against Muslims across the country. a€？They are showing their hatred towards Muslims openly. They need to answer questions before coming here asking for votes," news agency PTI quoted him as saying.

Notably, the Ladakh administration had disallowed NC from using its a€？plougha€？ electoral symbol for the Kargil polls in the notification issued earlier this year. The decision was challenged in the J&K High Court, which had ruled in NC's favour and allowed it to use the symbol. The decision was upheld by the Supreme Court last month.

"A vicious attempt was made to wipe off the National Conference from Ladakh and even claims were made by BJP MP (Jamyang Tsering Namgyal) that they have uprooted the partya€？s (NC's) symbol (plough)a€|It is not so easy and cannot be done in haste as the people of Kargil have centuries-old family and blood relations with the people in Kashmir," Abdullah said.

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