Eminent climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has been placed under a 60-day “house arrest” and barred from public rallies by the Leh additional district magistrate, invoking Section 163 of the BNSS.The preventive action follows mounting protests by Ladakhi groups against the administration’s decision to hold the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) and local body elections on December 4.Wangchuk, who was removed from a protest site prior to the order, posted on X that he was surrounded by dozens of armed guards for “asking uncomfortable questions,” such as querying the delay in the Judicial Enquiry Commission Report and the rushed scheduling of winter elections.The administration’s decision to conduct the region’s first major electoral exercise since its 2019 bifurcation into a Union Territory has triggered stiff pushback. Political and civil society groups—including the Ladakh Buddhist Association, which announced a municipal poll boycott, and Kargil residents who observed a complete shutdown—argue that severe winter weather and seasonal migration will disenfranchise voters.Defending the timeline, Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra asserted that the new councils must be constituted immediately to prepare upcoming budgets, adding that polling stations will feature heaters, separate queues for the elderly, and operational support.The restructured polls encompass 100 constituencies across eight new district councils alongside local panchayat and municipal elections.
Sonam Wangchuk Placed Under 60-Day House Arrest Amid Ladakh Winter Poll Protests
