Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has been placed under house arrest for 60 days and barred from taking part in public meetings, rallies and processions. The ban was imposed by an order of the additional district magistrate of Leh. A day earlier, Ladakhi groups had moved Wangchuk away from the site of a protest. The government wants to hold hill council elections there on 4 December.
The protest had been organised against that plan. The Ladakh administration said the order imposing preventive measures and restrictions on Wangchuk was issued on the basis of police reports and a letter from Leh’s police chief. The magistrate invoked Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) to restrict his movement. The order takes effect immediately and stays in force for up to 60 days. NDTV reported the news online.
The ban comes ahead of the 4 December elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC). Wangchuk and other local leaders oppose the election schedule. They argue that winter conditions and seasonal migration will keep many of Ladakh’s voters from casting their ballots. Hours before the formal order was issued against him, the climate activist said he had been put under house arrest and that dozens of police officers had been deployed around his home. In a post on X he wrote: “I am under house arrest. Dozens of armed security personnel have surrounded my house.
“Yet the government’s version is that I have been ‘advised to stay at home’. All of this is happening because I raised uncomfortable questions. Why is the report of the judicial commission of inquiry into last year’s killings in Leh being delayed? And why is a sham council election being forced on people at rocket speed in the middle of winter? All of Ladakh is up in protest. In the world’s largest democracy, the reach of my X, Instagram and YouTube has been cut drastically. Please help spread this message.”
The administration is about to hold its first major election since Ladakh was made a separate union territory in 2019. Amid protests against a winter poll and calls for a boycott, elections to Ladakh’s eight Autonomous Hill Development Councils are due on 4 December. Voting will be held for 100 seats across the eight councils, 36 of them reserved for women.
Under the schedule announced by the Ladakh administration, 17 November is the last day to file nominations. Nominations will be scrutinised on 18 November, and candidates may withdraw until 20 November. The whole election process will be completed by 8 December. The vote comes amid long-running protests in Leh and Kargil.
Political and civil society groups have been demanding full statehood for Ladakh and constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. Ladakh’s chief secretary, Ashish Kundra, said the former Leh and Kargil districts had 26 constituencies each. After eight new districts were created, the number was raised to 50 for each, bringing the total to 100. Defending the decision to hold the vote in winter, Kundra said adequate arrangements would be made so that the weather does not discourage voters.
Polling stations will have heaters, he said, and there will be separate queues for elderly voters. District commissioners have been told to make sure the necessary facilities are in place at polling stations. Kundra said Ladakh’s schools normally stay open until 15 or 16 December. If children can go to school in that period, adults should have no difficulty coming out to vote.
Stressing the need to form elected councils quickly, he said the newly elected councils would have January, February and March to prepare the budget for the next financial year. On the powers of the reconstituted councils, the chief secretary made clear that the newly elected LAHDCs would keep their existing legal powers. They will also carry out the additional duties assigned to district-level panchayat institutions under the 73rd constitutional amendment.
Kundra said the delimitation had been carried out according to district population and the notified LAHDC rules. Under those rules, a panchayat halqa or a municipal ward may not be split to form a constituency, but two or more panchayats may be combined into one. The administration is also looking at counting the votes for the hill council, municipal and panchayat elections at the same time. Kundra said recommendations would be made to ensure that the result of one election cannot influence another.
Meanwhile, panchayat and municipal elections are also under way. Ladakh has 192 panchayats in all. In 55 of them the sarpanch has been elected unopposed and given a certificate of election; voting will be held for the remaining 137 sarpanch posts. Several candidates for panchayat member seats have also been elected unopposed, and the remaining contested seats will go to the polls. In the Leh municipality, 42 candidates are contesting 21 wards. The Kargil municipal council has 17 wards, and in four of them candidates have already been declared elected unopposed.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report