Ladakh hill panel polls ends peacefully with over 65 per cent turnout

NewsGram Staff Writer

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir's powerful Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) polls witnessed peaceful voting with over 65 per cent turnout on Saturday.

"The voting for 26 seats of LAHDC started at 8 am and ended at 5 pm. An overall voting percentage of 65.17 per cent was recorded," an official of the district administration told reporters.

"The figures are likely to go up as final counts from far off polling stations are yet to be finalized," he added.

Counting of votes will be held on October 23.

There are 30 seats in the LAHDC out of which 26 are filled by directly election while four are nominated.

The majority of seats in the outgoing LAHDC were held by the Congress whose candidate was the chief executive councillor.

Candidates from Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and the New Ladakh Movement besides independents were among the 90 candidates, including 30 women, in the fray.

(With inputs from IANS)