- Activist Sonam Wangchuk faced house arrest amid Ladakh protests.
- Protests oppose December hill council elections due to winter.
- Leaders demand deferment, citing low voter turnout concerns.
- Authorities banned protests citing public order, election schedule.
Climate activist and Leh Apex Body (LAB) member Sonam Wangchuk was placed under house arrest on Thursday as protests erupted in Ladakh against the administration’s decision to hold hill council elections on December 4. The agitation comes despite appeals to defer the polls, with local leaders arguing that harsh winter conditions could prevent a significant section of the population from exercising their right to vote.
Police had removed Wangchuk from NDS Memorial Park in Leh late Wednesday when he visited the protest site to oversee preparations. Initially, the police said he had been “advised to stay at his residence”. However, the Leh Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) subsequently issued formal preventive orders imposing restrictions on his activities, according to the Times of India.
Wangchuk claimed on Thursday that he was effectively under house arrest, alleging that dozens of armed security personnel had been deployed outside his residence. “Dozens of armed guards surround my house,” he posted late Thursday.
Police Cite Public Order Concerns, Ban Protests
In the preventive orders, the Leh SSP cited Wangchuk’s activities, past conduct and alleged attempts to instigate the public as reasons for imposing restrictions. The police said his actions had previously affected public order and expressed apprehensions that future demonstrations could again disrupt peace.
The restrictions came amid a wider clampdown on demonstrations ahead of the upcoming elections. Authorities had imposed a ban on protests on Wednesday, citing the December 4 hill council elections and the municipal and panchayat polls scheduled for November 21.
Following the restrictions, Wangchuk and his LAB colleagues issued an SOS appeal to President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, urging them to defer the elections. They argued that holding the polls during the harsh winter could leave many residents unable to participate.
LAB co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakrook has estimated that nearly 30 per cent of Ladakh’s population remains outside the Union Territory during winter, raising concerns about voter participation.
LAB Says Peaceful Protest Continues
Despite the restrictions and a heavy security presence in Leh and Kargil, people from different walks of life participated in a peaceful sit-in on Thursday, the Leh Apex Body said.
In a statement, LAB said the turnout sent a clear message to the administration that people in Ladakh remained committed to peaceful and democratic forms of protest. It maintained that residents would continue raising their legitimate demands while exercising their constitutional right to demonstrate.
Addressing protesters at the site, Lakrook clarified that LAB was not opposed to the hill council elections themselves. Its objection, he said, was to holding them during winter, when a substantial number of residents could be deprived of their voting rights.
He also alleged that electoral rolls had been tampered with and that Gen Z voters had been removed from the lists. Lakrook described the alleged manipulation as “Operation Lotus”.
Hill Council Elections Across Eight Districts
The election schedule follows an October 20 notification that paved the way for hill council polls across all eight districts of Ladakh, including the newly created Sankoo district. Until now, the Union Territory had two autonomous hill councils, one each in Leh and Kargil.
Ladakh Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra has described the elections as a “watershed moment” for democracy in the region. Defending the decision to hold the polls in December, he argued that schools remain open until December 15 and questioned why adults would be unable to turn up to vote if children could continue attending classes.
The hill council and panchayat elections are scheduled for December 4 and November 21, respectively. Counting for both sets of polls will take place on December 8.
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