It is the largest Parliamentary constituency in the country with regards to the area but the smallest in terms of population. Even though Ladakh is in J&K where Article 370 and 35A are the main issues, the voters want developmental issues addressed with better road and air connectivity.
Ladakh: The sixth seat of Jammu & Kashmir up for polling on May 6 is the geographically challenging Ladakh region. It is the largest Parliamentary constituency in the country with regards to the area but the smallest in terms of population.
The cold desert has a polling station at Anlay Pho in Chanthang area established at an altitude of 15,000 feet above the sea-level.
There are places in the Ladakh where polling stations have been set up for just 7 voters — Gaik polling station in Leh and Washi in Nubra segments.
The constituency has four Assembly segments of Leh, Kargil, Zanskar and Nubra. While Leh predominately has a Buddhist population, Kargil has mostly Muslim population.
Scheduled to go for polling on May 6, the seat is witnessing a tough four-way battle between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress and People’s Democratic Party (PDP)-National Conference (NC) backed independent candidate.
The candidates in fray are Rigzin Spalbar of Congress, Jamyang Tsering Namgyal of BJP, Sajjad Hussain backed by PDP and NC, and influential Congress rebel Asgar Ali Karbalai.
The seat was won by BJP’s Thupstan Chhewang in 2014 who defeated independent candidate Gulam Raza by just 36 votes.
Chhewang, however, resigned from both the party and Parliament last year, accusing the BJP of not fulfilling the promises made to the people of Ladakh.
This time, the BJP has fielded Jamgang Tsering Namgyal, the Chief Executive Councillor (CEC) of the powerful Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC).
“Historically the contest of Ladakh seat based on support by religious schools of Muslim and Buddhist faiths of Kargil and Leh and irrespective of political affiliations but after former Ladakh Union Territory Front (LUTF) activist and former minister Rigzin Jora joined Congress and LUFT founder and two-time member parliament Thupstan Chhewang merged with BJP in 2010, the fight becomes politically more significant,” Greater Kashmir reported.
“The grant of the divisional status, setting up of a separate campus of the Kashmir University and huge central findings for exploiting the solar power potential of the region are likely to help the BJP in the constituency,” Business Standard reported.
Ladakh has 174,618 voters, 86752 are males, 85064 females, 2799 are service voters and 3 transgender.
The Kargil segment has 65,294, Leh 72,689, Nubra 14,148 and Zanskar 22,487 voters.
There has been a predominant demand for Union Territory status for the region and could sway the voters.
Ladakh has been a Congress stronghold as the party has won the seat five times since 1967 when the first parliamentary election for the constituency was held. Independent candidates have won thrice, the National Conference twice, while the BJP won in 2014.
Even though Ladakh is in J&K where Article 370 and 35A are the main issues, the voters want developmental issues addressed with better road and air connectivity.
“Our Ladakh-specific election agenda is Union Territory status for Ladakh which means freedom from Kashmiri dominance,” BJP candidate Namgyal told IANS, BS reported.
“We want inclusion of our Bhoti language in the 8th schedule of Indian constitution. We want the opening of Kalash Mansarovar Yatra route from Ladakh to Denjok. We demand Zojila tunnel and also opening of Pahalgam-Sanjoy route,” he added.
Spalbar said, “Whenever Parliament elections are held in Ladakh, the region gets divided between Leh and Kargil, between the Buddhists and the Muslims. My first and foremost commitment is to end this divide which is traditionally created by vested interests.”
Underlining that faith should not be a dividing factor, in the report he said, “We have the same cultural, social, ethnic and geographical background. An MP elected by both Leh and Kargil would be the best person to bridge this divide. Unfortunately, in the past, nobody tried to bridge this gap and I have decided to bridge this gap once and forever.”
Hussain told IANS, “I am the unity candidate of Kargil. My priorities are connectivity, education, health sector and others.”
He underscored the need for a medical college, a University, tunnels across the Zojila and Khardung La Passes “and, of course, I stand for the protection of state’s special status and I am against the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A,” the report added.
The results of the Lok Sabha elections will be declared on May 23. There are 8,000 candidates and 1,800 political parties in fray for the 543 seats.