Srinagar: Paving the way for a new system of local representation following the union territory’s district reorganisation, Ladakh has dissolved its existing Autonomous Hill Development Council in Kargil and notified 100 elected seats for eight hill councils.
The decision followed the resignation of its chief executive councillor on October 20, 2026, along with three executive councillors and six other council members. A separate notification has fixed the number of directly elected seats for the eight councils at 100. Under the new seat allocation, Leh will have 22 elected members and Kargil will have 21. Sankoo has been allotted 13 seats, while Changthang will have 10. The allocation follows amendments to the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, introduced through the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (Amendment) Regulation, 2026. The amended regulation took effect on October 19. The earlier provision fixed the strength of each council at 26 seats. The amended rules allow between seven and 24 elected members in each council. The councils were established under the 1997 Act when Ladakh was part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The district structure began changing in April 2026, when the Ladakh administration notified five new districts – Nubra, Sham, Changthang, Zanskar and Drass. They were formally inaugurated on April 30.
It gives the administration greater flexibility to determine representation according to population, geographical area and administrative requirements. Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena described the notification of the 100 constituencies as “a historic milestone for grassroots democracy in Ladakh”. He said the allocation takes panchayat halqas and municipal wards as the basic units and considers both the number of eligible voters and the geographical area. He said the additional seats would increase local representation and strengthen elected governance across the union territory.
The Kargil council ceased to exist with immediate effect under an order issued by the Ladakh administration. The order also cited district boundary changes that affected the council’s jurisdiction. The administration has transferred the dissolved council’s powers and responsibilities to the deputy commissioner and chief executive officer of Kargil. The officer will handle its functions until new councils are constituted under the law. Nubra, Sham and Zanskar will each have nine seats and Drass will have seven. Each council can also have four nominated members representing women and communities that lack adequate representation. Their responsibilities include development planning, local taxation and certain regulatory functions. The system provides elected representatives with a role in decisions affecting communities spread across the region’s mountainous terrain.
The total is almost twice the combined strength of the two councils that previously governed Leh and Kargil. Ladakh previously had two districts, Leh and Kargil, each governed by an Autonomous Hill Development Council.
Sankoo became the eighth district on October 16. Changes to tehsils and revenue villages across the new districts have taken Ladakh’s total number of tehsils to 37. 259 on September 3 and Notification S.O. 285 on October 16, providing for separate autonomous hill development councils in the newly created districts. The dissolution order invokes Section 3(1) of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils Act, 1997, along with Section 55 and other enabling provisions.
The existing Kargil council’s territorial jurisdiction therefore no longer matched the new district boundaries.
It describes the old council’s structure as “legally untenable and incompetent to function within its original framework” following the territorial changes. It was carved out of the remaining Kargil territory and includes the tehsils of Sankoo, GM Pore, TSG and Taisuru. The reorganisation transferred large parts of the former Kargil district into Drass, Zanskar and Sankoo. The order terminates the positions of the former chief executive councillor, executive councillors and all elected or nominated members. The deputy commissioner and chief executive officer of Kargil will oversee the council’s duties during the transition, including local administration, public services and development work. The notification fixing the number of elected seats provides the basis for delimitation across all eight districts. The exercise will determine the boundaries of individual constituencies before elections are held to the new councils. The next stages will involve finalising the constituencies and constituting the councils under the amended law.
The lieutenant governor had earlier issued Notification S.O. Until then, the Kargil district administration will carry out the functions previously handled by the dissolved council.
