Over 65 percent turnout in Ladakh hill panel poll

Voting for Jammu and Kashmir's powerful Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) ended peacefully on Saturday with over 65 percent voter turnout, an official said.

"The voting for 26 seats of LAHDC started at 8 a.m. and ended at 5 p.m. An overall voting percentage of 65.17 percent was recorded," an official of the district administration told IANS on phone from Leh.

"The percentage figures are likely to go up as final counts from far off polling stations are yet to be finalized," he added.

Counting of votes will be held on October 23.

There are 30 seats in the LAHDC out of which 26 are filled by directly election while four are nominated.

The majority of seats in the outgoing LAHDC were held by the Congress whose candidate was the chief executive councillor.

Candidates from Congress, Bharatiya Janata Party, National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and the New Ladakh Movement besides independents were among the 90 candidates, including 30 women, in the fray.