Leh Council poll to be Herculean task for admn

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 9

Tough geographical terrain and numerous logistical challenges in the cold desert of Ladakh have turned conducting the fifth elections to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, Leh, into a Herculean task for the administration.

Elections are scheduled to be held on October 17 and counting will take place on October 23. The onset of winter, with temperatures dipping to sub-zero level during morning and evening hours, have compounded the difficulties of election authorities.

Many tough and inaccessible areas are already snow-bound and the administration will have to either airlift the polling staff and security personnel or send them three or four days ahead of day of polling.

Official sources said the polling staff and security personnel for polling stations in inaccessible and snow-bound areas of the region would be airlifted on October 14 so that they could reach their destinations in time.

The sources said polling staff and security personnel for Skumpata, Lingshet, Depling, Neraks, Youlchang, Merak and Fotoskar would be airlifted by helicopter on October 14.

The poll parties would trek for between five and seven hours before reach the villages for polling. They would be dispatched with sufficient packed food. They would be airlifted to the district headquarters with poll material on October 18, the sources said.

The polling staff for other polling stations in far-flung areas, including Markha, Hankar and Phirtsey, would be sent on October 14, the sources said. The teams would trek in high altitudes to reach their respective destinations.

For polling stations located close to the border with China, polling officials would leave with poll material on October 15. The distance between polling stations and the district headquarters could be gauged from the fact that the staff for 104 of the 274 polling stations would leave the district headquarters on October 15 so that they could reach their respective destinations in time, the sources said.

The election authorities were concerned about the health of polling staff and security personnel, who would have to trek a long distance amid unfavourable conditions in snow-bound areas to reach their polling stations.

Leh district, with an area of 45,100 sq km, is one of the largest districts in the country. It is surrounded by Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and China. Topographically, the whole of the district is mountainous with three parallel ranges of the Himalayas, the Zanskar, the Ladakh and the Karakoram.

A total of 80,811 electors, including 67,757 in Leh and 13,054 in Nubra, will exercise their right to franchise in the 26 constituencies of the Leh council. The Lower Leh segment has the highest number of 10,052 electors while Sku-Markha constituency has just 649 voters. The smallest polling stations, Gaik and Ezang, have 12 voters each. Thukjey polling station has 17 electors and there are 20 voters at Khakted. Leh Deputy Commissioner Prasanna Ramaswamy G, also the election authority, said high altitude, tough and inaccessible areas covered with snow and poor connectivity posed a great challenge for the administration to conduct elections.