After a snub from the Supreme Court, the administration of Ladakh Union Territory (UT) has eventually issued a fresh election notification for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Kargil (LAHDC) polls and also reserved the “plough” symbol for the National Conference (NC).
The administration last night issued a notification reserving the symbol for the National Conference.
“In pursuance to the order of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 06/09/2023 in Civil Appeal No. 5707 of 2023 (SLP No. 18727 of 2023), the symbol “Plough” is hereby reserved for the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference Party for the ensuing elections to the 5th Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Kargil,” reads the notification issued by Yetindra M. Maralkar, secretary, election department, Ladakh.
Polling for the 26 seats of the 30 member LAHDC was scheduled to be held on 10 September, but the process mired in a dispute as the Ladakh administration denied NC its ‘plough’ symbol for the elections as a result of which the issue was taken first to the high court and then to the Supreme Court.
Slamming the administration of Ladakh UT, NC vice-president Omar Abdullah on Friday told reporters in Srinagar that it was unfortunate that we had to wage such a battle for what was our right as a political party. Election guidelines are very clear about allocation of symbols. Clearly the administration in Ladakh had a “very biased” agenda.
Which is why they went to the Supreme Court to deny us our right, but if you read the verdict, particularly the detailed judgement that came, it has been absolutely scathing about the conduct of the Ladakh administration. And the fact that the court imposed a cost of Rs.1 lakh of course on Ladakh administration is an indication of how seriously the court viewed the conduct of the Ladakh government. We are pleased that the order was issued late last night and we have got our election symbol, he added.
The Ladakh administration has announced a new schedule for elections to the fifth LAHDC in Kargil, following a directive by the Supreme Court. As per the notification elections will be held on 4 October 4. The LAHDC Kargil came into effect in 2003.
According to the new notification, the process for filing nominations will start on 9 September and the last date for filing nominations is 16 September. The last date for withdrawing nominations has been fixed on 20 September. Counting of votes will take place on 8 October. The notification further said that the entire election process should be completed before 11 October.
The Supreme Court Wednesday set aside the August 2 notification issued by the Ladakh administration for elections to LAHDC and directed that a fresh notification be issued within seven days.
The bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanulla imposed a cost of Rs. 1 lakh on the Ladakh administration and also dismissed its appeal against the 14 August order of a division bench of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court which had upheld an interim order by a single-judge bench for grant of the ‘Plough’ poll symbol to the NC. It “declared” that the JKNC is “entitled to the exclusive allotment of the plough symbol for candidates proposed to be put up by it”.