The BJP won six seats while an Independent candidate bagged one seat on Monday, as counting is underway for polls to 26 seats in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, officials said. BJP, INC and Independents are leading on three seats each, as per trends. BJP, INC, AAP and 23 Independent candidates contested the polls for 26 seats. Leh recorded a 65.07 per cent turnout in the 6th Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) elections on Thursday, an official spokesman said. BJP won seats of Turtik, Hundar, Diskit, Tegar, Panamik, Tangtse, and only seat was won by an Independent is Chushul. BJP defeated INC candidates in the polls. Counting of votes started at the Amphitheatre of SSK, Tisuru, Leh around 9 am. An electorate of 89,776, including 45025 women, exercised their franchise in 294 polling stations spread over 26 constituencies across Leh district to seal the fate of 94 candidates including 26 each of the BJP and Congress. Besides the Congress and BJP, the Aam Admi Party (AAP) is also trying its luck for the first time by fielding 19 candidates, while the rest of the 23 contestants are independents. Regional parties including National Conference and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have chosen to stay away from the election. LAHDC-Leh has a total of 30 seats and four councilors are nominated by the government. Since the formation of the hill council in 1995, the Congress had swept the polls thrice, while the Ladakh Union Territorial Front had won the elections in 2005. The BJP wrested control of the council from Congress for the first time in the last elections by winning 18 out of 26 seats. Kargil district of Ladakh had a separate hill council which was elected in 2018 for a five-year term.
