Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): Close to 90,000 people exercised their franchise in the crucial Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) elections in Leh, officials said today.
They said 89,776 people voted in the elections, which means 65 per cent of people participated in the polls. Additional Deputy Commissioner Leh, Sonam Chosjor said that people came out in large numbers to participate in the polls and the polling remained peaceful.
“No untoward incident took place anywhere in Leh”, he said. Officials said that an electorate of 89,776, including 45,025 women were eligible to cast their votes and all voted for their candidates.
They said that a total number of 294 polling stations were spread over 26 constituencies across Leh district. LAHDC-Leh has a total of 30 seats and four councilors are nominated by the government.
A total number or 94 candidates, including 26 each of the BJP and Congress, 19 from Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and 23 independent candidates were in the fray. Two major regional political parties that include, People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and National Conference chose to stay away from the election process.
Officials said that the counting of votes will take place on October 26 and the poll process is expected to be completed by October 30.
It may be recalled that several Union Ministers flew all the way from Delhi to Leh in the past few weeks to take part in the poll campaigning.
-ARK
