SC set aside notification for Ladakh hill council polls, allows NC to use plough symbol
A bench comprising justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah dismissed the plea by the Ladakh administration opposing the allotment of “plough” symbol to the National Conference and imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh on it
The Supreme Court on Wednesday set aside the August 5 notification of the election department for the Ladakh hill council polls and directed for a fresh notification to be issued within seven days.
A bench comprising justices Vikram Nath and Ahsanuddin Amanullah dismissed the plea by the Ladakh administration opposing the allotment of “plough” symbol to the National Conference and imposed a cost of ₹1 lakh on it.
The Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh High Court had dismissed the Ladakh administration’s plea against a single bench order allowing NC candidates to contest the upcoming polls for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil, on the party symbol.
According to a notification issued by the election department on August 5, the polls for 26 seats of the 30-member LAHDC, Kargil, were scheduled for September 10.
BJP, admn had malafide intentions: NC
After SC deferred elections for LAHDC, Kargil, National Conference (NC) on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party and Ladakh administration of harbouring malafide intentions. The party said that the apex court upheld their rights.
While setting aside the notification for Kargil hill council polls, the court held that NC was entitled to its “plough” symbol.
Former chairperson of the previous Kargil hill council, Feroz Khan, a member of NC, said, “After UT administration denied us the plough symbol, we moved high court, which directed the administration to allot ‘plough’ symbol to our party. The division bench also upheld the decision of the single bench.” Ladakh administration had then moved Supreme Court.
Khan said that the UT administration had filed a plea before the court that Kargil hill council polls don’t fall within the purview of election commission (EC) and was a local election. The administration had said that any party that has to contest local elections has to register in the UT of Ladakh, he said.
Khan added that an EC order of 1968 clearly mentioned that any state party that has to contest local elections has to be given its symbol.
A total of 17 NC candidates were in fray for September 10 polls.
Khan said, “People here suspect foul play by the BJP to change the tide in their favour. Somewhere, something was fishy. Otherwise, what was the compulsion of the Ladakh administration to move Supreme Court.”
BJP, Congress and AAP were given their respective party symbols for the elections.
UT administration’s chief electoral officer and general administration department secretary Yetindara M Maralkar said, “In the wake of SC judgment, the elections have to be re-scheduled.”
“The only issue was that who is the authority to decide the allotment of symbols? Whether it was for the UT administration or the EC to take the call because the latter had notified symbols for national parties and has not mentioned anything for the state or regional parties ever since Ladakh became a UT in 2019,” said Maralkar.
Maralkar added, “In LAHDC election rules, nothing has been mentioned about allotment of symbols”.
He said that EC allotted party symbols only for parliamentary and assembly elections, an argument strongly contested by a former chief secretary of Jammu and Kashmir.
Padma Angmo, secretary information department and Ladakh administration spokesperson said, “The fresh dates will be notified soon. There won’t be much delay.”
