A First for All of Ladakh’s New Districts: They Will Soon Have Elected Hill Councils Under Expanded Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council System

A First for All of Ladakh’s New Districts: They Will Soon Have Elected Hill Councils Under Expanded Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council System

LEH, September 4 [VoM News]: For the first time, all five new districts of Ladakh will be brought into the elected Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) system, expanding democratic governance into regions which currently lie outside the existing Leh and Kargil councils.

Lieutenant Governor V.K. Saxena gave the green signal to the formal announcement on Thursday of the planned rollout of LAHDCs to each of the seven districts of the Union Territory.

The five new districts – Sham, Nubra, Zanskar, Drass and Changthang – will be included in the autonomous hill council framework.

This new directive comes shortly after the Union government sanctioned on July 13 the extension of the LAHDC framework across all seven of Ladakh’s districts.

Thus far, elected hill councils have been functioning solely in Leh and Kargil. This recent decision will extend the system to these two districts as well as Sham, Nubra, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass.

The Ladakh administration stated that after the required notification is formally issued according to Section 8 of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, elections to the recently formed councils will be conducted in due course.

No schedule for elections has yet been published.
Saxena announced on Twitter that the official announcement marked the commencement of proceedings that will lead to elections to the five new councils. The decree’s operative dates will be in force from the date it appears in the Official Gazette.

The Ladakh administration describes to give more authority over district planning, development and management on to locally elected officials as purpose of these councils.

Saxena hailed the decision as a “historic” moment for the region, claiming the expanded system would achieve the decentralization of governance, bolstering local organizations and meeting the people’s age-old desire for increased input into community governance.

As there is no legislative assembly in Ladakh, the enhanced array of elected autonomous hill councils is expected to form a key asset of local self-governence for the region.