India revises Ladakh hill council rules, expanding elected seats to 7-24
The central government has amended the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils regulation, allowing each council to have between seven and twenty-four elected members and permitting up to four nominated members from women and unrepresented groups.
A recent regulation amendment updates the legal and administrative structure of Ladakh’s Autonomous Hill Development Councils to match the 2019 Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act. Under the revised rules, the Ladakh administration can decide the number of elected seats for each council, with a minimum of seven and a maximum of twenty-four. It may also nominate up to four members drawn from women and unrepresented communities, provided they do not exceed one-sixth of the council’s population.
The sitting Lok Sabha MP for Ladakh will automatically become an ex-officio member of each district council. Council terms are fixed at five years from the first meeting, but can be prolonged if holding elections is deemed impracticable. Terminology in the regulation now refers to the “Union territory of Ladakh” and its “Administrator” instead of “State” and “Governor.”
Why it matters
The changes reshape local governance in Ladakh, affecting representation and administrative control in the union territory.
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