The Central Government has issued a new regulation to restructure and streamline the electoral procedures for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC).
The updated framework aims to improve administrative efficiency, ensure fair representation, and standardize the council election process across Leh and Kargil.
The legislative reform comes amid ongoing demands from local leaders in Ladakh for increased political autonomy, constitutional safeguards, and statehood.
The Centre has amended the legal terminology, administrative structure and electoral provisions governing the Autonomous Hill Development Councils in Ladakh to align them with the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019, which led to the creation of the Union territory of Ladakh.
Under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, the number of elected seats in each Council will be determined by the Ladakh administration, with a minimum of seven and a maximum of 24 seats.
The administration can nominate up to four members from among women and “unrepresented communities”, subject to the one-sixth limit of the population, the regulation states.
The sitting Lok Sabha MP representing Ladakh will be an ex-officio member of the Councils constituted for each district.
Each Council will have a term of five years from the date appointed for its first meeting, unless dissolved earlier. The term can be extended if holding elections is considered impracticable.
The regulation also replaces references to “State” and “Governor” with “Union territory of Ladakh” and “Administrator”, respectively.
