The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the sixth Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Leh general council elections.
The saffron party bagged 15 seats out of a total of 26.
Congress performed better from the previous year winning nine seats and independents two seats.
The BJP was expecting all 26 seats in the LAHDC Leh as it has fulfilled their demand of turning Ladakh into union territory.
However, soon after the UT status, fear gripped the region as the government didn’t grant the sixth schedule to the region.
Political parties are seeking safeguards for the region on the pattern in northeastern states.
This factor was played up by Congress during the election campaign, which increases its tally.
As the results of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) start pouring in since Monday morning, the head office of the BJP in Leh started resounding with pro-BJP slogans.
The winning candidates would rush to party headquarters to celebrate their win with the party workers.
The LHDC, Leh was constituted in accordance with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act of 1995 during PV Narasimha Rao’s government, and its first election was held in 1995.
Later during Mufti Mohammad Sayeed led PDP rule in 2003 similar council was established for Kargil district.
The LHDC Leh elections are held after every five years and it has over the years remained dominated by Congress.
In 2010 polls, of 26 seats, the BJP had only four seats and Congress had 22. In the previous council, the BJP had 17 seats, and the Congress four seats and the National Conference had two seats.
