Leh: Municipal elections in Ladakh’s Leh and Kargil districts will be held on November 21, with voting scheduled across 38 wards, Chief Electoral Officer Rahul Sharma announced on Friday.
The Leh Municipal Committee has 21 wards, while the Kargil Municipal Committee has 17. Electoral rolls for both committees were published on Thursday, with October 1 fixed as the qualifying date for voter registration.
As per the proposed schedule, the election notification will be issued on October 29. Candidates can file their nomination papers until November 5, while scrutiny will be conducted on November 6.
The deadline for withdrawing nominations is November 9. The allotment of election symbols and publication of the final list of contesting candidates will also take place on the same day.
Polling will be held on November 21, and the complete election process is expected to conclude by November 30.
The elections will be conducted under the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000, and the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Committee (Election) Rules, 2003.
The Model Code of Conduct has come into effect immediately and will remain applicable until the election process is completed. Political parties, candidates and officials have been directed to comply with the prescribed guidelines.
The last municipal elections in Ladakh were held in 2018, when the region was part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The terms of the municipal bodies have since ended.