BJP played emotional card to woo voters in Ladakh polls: Congress

The saffron party registered a thumping win in 18 of the 26 seats of LAHDC Leh

Congress, which suffered a drubbing in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Leh polls, has accused the BJP of playing "emotional card" to woo the voters.

"The BJP wooed the people of Leh by playing emotional card of granting the Union Territory status to them," JK PCC chief G A Mir said in a statement.

Mir, reacting to the saffron party's thumping win in 18 of the 26 seats of LAHDC Leh, said the BJP did in the same in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections last year "to emotionally exploit the people on regional and religious issues".

The JKPCC chief, however, said the party accepted the verdict of the people as "is the true sense of democracy".

Congress, which had 21 members in the previous council, managed only five seats in the polls held last week.

Congratulating the people for smooth conduct of election and appreciating local Congress leaders and the entire party cadres in Leh, Mir accused the ruling BJP of using all their resources and official machinery besides utilising the services of their entire national leadership in these local polls.

Mir said "anti-incumbency factor was also obvious" as Congress has remained in power in the Council for two consecutive terms.

He said the division of votes with the existence of local forces in the fray also contributed to the BJP's victory.

"BJP mainly concentrated on the UT issue which the Congress party could not have done because of its stated position of maintaining unity and integrity of the state," Mir said.