BJP sweeps Leh Hill Council polls; PM hails victory

Leh (J&K)

Dislodging Congress, BJP today swept the elections for the 26-member Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh, bagging 17 of the 24 seats for which results were declared.

Congress, which had 22 seats in the outgoing Council, managed only four seats this time while National Conference got two. One seat was bagged by an Independent.

The poll victory was hailed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi who expressed his gratitude to the people of the region for reposing their faith in BJP.

“Delighted at the results of Ladakh Hill Council Polls. My gratitude to people for placing their faith in BJP. Congrats to BJP Karyakartas,” he tweeted.

The party had won the Lok Sabha polls last year from Ladakh Constituency, the lone seat in the region, by dislodging Congress.

BJP candidates won from Tegar, Panamik, Tangtse, Chushul, Kungyam, Sakti, Igoo, Martselang, Thiksay, Chuchot, Upper Leh, Phyang, Sku-Markha, Saspol, Temisgam, Khaltse and Skurbuchan council seats in the elections held on October 19.

Congress has so far managed only four seats winning Lamayouru, Basgo, Lingshet and Korzok seats.

National Conference has won two seats — Lower Leh and Turtuk, while Diskit seat went to an Independent.

The results for two council seats -Hunder and Nyoma – are awaited.

90 candidates were in the fray for the elections and over 65 per cent electorate had exercised their franchise.

In the last elections held in 2010, Congress had 22 seats while BJP had 4.

The most important seat was considered to be Lower Leh from where Rigzin Spalbar of NC won. Spalber, outgoing CEC of LAHDC, had left Congress just before the polls to join NC.

We have written a new chapter in Ladakh: BJP on LAHDC victory

Jammu

A jubilant BJP today asserted that the party has “written a new chapter” in Ladakh after sweeping the 26-member Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh (LAHDC) elections today.

Hiting Hitting out at its critique, the saffron party said that they are not confined to two-and-a-half districts of Jammu, rather they now have a “strong hold” in all three regions of Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir.

“Those who had been preaching that BJP is a party confined to two and half districts of Jammu, should now accept the ground reality that it has its strong holds in Jammu, Ladakh and Kashmir, while Congress and NC are losing ground after every election”, Member of Parliament Shamsher Singh Manhas told reporters here.

BJP swept the LAHDC elections, bagging 17 of the 24 seats for which results have been declared so far. Congress, which had a strong presence in the last Council, managed only four seats this time while National Conference got one. One seat was won by an Independent.

The BJP state unit celebrated the party’s victory by distributing sweets and dancing to the tunes of drum beats at party headquarters here.

Manhas noted that the results have reassured the people that BJP is a force to reckon with along the length and breadth of Jammu and Kashmir.

“BJP has written a new chapter in Ladakh and the credit for the same goes to the policies of Narendra Modi-led NDA government and the ideology and principles of BJP as we have stood with the people of Ladakh during all these years when Congress and NC only played vote bank politics,” he said.

He added that the party’s organizational setup in Ladakh has put its best in making the victory possible besides the participation of party’s national leaders, state leadership, ministers, MLAs, MLCs during the campaigning.

PTI