'Run to vote' mini-marathon held at Leh

A mini-marathon titled 'run to vote' was held Saturday in Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir's Ladakh region which is going to polls in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 6.

Brand Ambassador of Jammu and Kashmir Election Authority Sana Dua, along with District Election Officer (DEO), Leh, Avny Lavasa and general observer Alkesh Kumar Sharma flagged off the marathon from NDS stadium in Leh, an official spokesman said.

He said the marathon culminated at Leh main Bazaar amidst a gathering of huge crowd.

"The marathon with the objective to promote voter awareness and educate the target population about EVM and VVPAT, was organised by the nodal officer SVEEP, Leh and the entire SVEEP team.

"All the district officers, religious and social heads, teaching fraternity and students participated in the mini marathon," the spokesman said.

Addressing the gathering, Dua appealed to the voters to exercise their voting right on May 6 for the Lok Sabha elections which will seal the fate of four contestants -- BJP's Jamyang Tsering Namgyal and Congress' Rigzin Spalbar besides two independents, Congress rebel and former MLA Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Hussain who is enjoying support of arch rivals National Conference and PDP.

Lavasa made a special appeal to all the eligible students to become the ambassador of election and take the message of ethical voting to their family, relatives, neighbours and friends to keep up the spirit of healthy democracy.

Veteran leader Thupstan Chhewang had won the Ladakh parliamentary seat for BJP for the first time in 2014 by a narrow margin of 36 votes by defeating Congress rebel candidate Ghulam Raza, but resigned from the primary membership of the party in November last year, claiming that all promises made by it sounded like an "empty rhetoric".