Why Kargil election result is a clear vote against August 5, 2019

A National Conference-Congress victory was expected, though not on this scale. The alliance won 22 of the 26 hill council seats that went to polls.

Oct 9, 2023 - 14:30

Why Kargil election result is a clear vote against August 5, 2019

The alliance of the National Conference and the Congress has swept the elections to the hill council in Kargil district of Ladakh, winning 22 of the 26 seats that went to polls.

The victory of the alliance is not surprising, given the widespread discontent in Kargil against the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 and its separation from the erstwhile state. But few had anticipated the scale of the mandate. The National Conference won 12 seats, and the Congress 10 seats. Only 16 are needed to form a majority in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council.

The Bharatiya Janata Party won two seats, improving its tally by one. Independents, too, have won two seats. In the 30-member hill council, four seats – reserved for women and minorities – are nominated by the government.

This was the first elections held in Ladakh, after it was carved out as a Union territory from the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in August 2019.

A symbolic election

The National Conference and the Congress entered a pre-poll alliance in a contest that was pitched as an election to decide whether the people of Kargil “accept or reject the decisions of August 5, 2019”.

While the Bharatiya Janata Party has...