At least 70% percent of the 1,84,803 voters marked their choice till 6 pm for the strategic union territory of Ladakh, which went to polls on Monday, chief electoral officer Yatinder Maralkar said.
“Till now, the voter turnout is 70%. The figures from far off villages are still pouring in. It will take some time for us to compile the final figures. The polling was peaceful in both the districts of Kargil and Leh,” the officer added.
This is the first major electoral battle in the union territory after it was carved out of Jammu and Kashmir in 2019. The turnout for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in the Ladakh constituency, which had 1,66,763 voters, was 71.05%.
The Shia dominated Kargil district, with 7,049 more voters than Buddhist dominated Leh district, recorded 71.45% percent turnout. Leh’s figure, meanwhile, stood at 62.5%.
The election authorities had set 598 polling stations for the vast and sparsely populated constituency, which spans an area of 173.266 sq km,
As per the official data, of the total 1,84,803 voters in Ladakh; 92,689 are men and 92,114 are women. Lieutenant-governor Brig (Dr) BD Mishra (retd) and his wife Neelam Mishra cast their votes at Skara Yokma in Leh.
In the lead-up to the election, the union territory had been rocked by protracted agitations over demands of it being included under the Constitution’s sixth schedule, statehood, additional Lok Sabha constituency, unemployment and a separate public service commission.
The agitation had intensified on March 6, with Leh observing a complete shutdown followed by a 66-day hunger strike that was suspended three days ago in view of the Lok Sabha elections.
In the Himalayan region, split over clear religious and regional lines, a triangular contest was witnessed on Monday between Bharatiya Janata Party’s Tashi Gyalson, Congress’ Tsering Namgyal (both Buddhist leaders from Leh district) and independent Haji Hanifa Jan from Shia-dominated Kargil district.
The agitations had earlier seen BJP dropping its incumbent MP, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, from the contest. The party instead fielded Tashi Gyalson, the chairman-cum-chief executive councillor of the Leh autonomous hill development council, to soothe frayed nerves.
Notably, Congress’ Namgyal is the leader of the opposition in Leh autonomous hill and independent candidate Hanifa Jan is the former president of the National Conference’s Kargil unit.
Going by the polling percentage and the fact that Shia-dominated Kargil district has 7,049 more voters compared to Leh, Shia leader Haji Hanifa Jan seems to have an edge over his rivals.
Prominent political analyst Zafar Choudhary, however, felt that the BJP, which, till recently was considered “down and out” because of the protracted agitations in Ladakh over sixth schedule and statehood, was “back in the contest”.
BJP candidate Thupstan Chhewang had won the seat in 2014, followed by party Namgayal win in 2019.