Cong sweeps Leh, BJP fails to open account

Arteev Sharma

Tribune News Service

Jammu, October 20

The BJP on Saturday suffered a humiliating defeat in the first-ever civic polls in the Ladakh region by drawing a blank in the Kargil and Leh municipal bodies.

The major setback for the party was in Leh district, where it has the majority in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), which politically governs the district politically, as the Congress made a clean sweep of all 13 municipal wards in Leh town.

In the Kargil municipal committee also, the party failed to open its account. The Congress won five seats and Independents clinched eight. In October last year, the BJP had scripted a history after it wrested control over the powerful LAHDC, Leh, for the first time by winning 18 out of the 26 constituencies of the council. The party had also managed to open its account in the Kargil Council last month when it won a seat.