Ladakh: political history
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Contents |
6th Schedule/ district, regional councils
GOI’s views, as in 2019 Dec
The government has hinted that the newly-created Union Territory of Ladakh may not be brought under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, which provides for administration of tribal areas by autonomous district and regional councils, for now.
It told Lok Sabha that the existing autonomous councils set up under the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, were the most empowered councils in the country with powers “more of less in line with the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution”.
A recommendation to include Ladakh as a tribal area under the Sixth Schedule was earlier made by the National Commission for Scheduled Tribes.
In reply to a question in Lok Sabha, minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy said the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1997, “continued to apply in the UT as per the provisions of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019”.
“The LAHDC Act, 1997, provides for establishment of autonomous hill development councils in the Ladakh region. Autonomous hill development councils came into existence in Leh in 1995 and in Kargil in 2003,” Reddy said.
He added that the powers given to these councils were more or less in line with the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. “After the amendment of the LAHDC Act, 1997, in 2018, these councils are perhaps the most empowered autonomous hill development councils in the country,” he said.
Districts
2024: five new districts
Union home ministry approved the creation of five new districts in the UT of Ladakh, in a move aimed at better percolation of development and welfare schemes to the grassroots. Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang have been named as the new districts, thereby taking the total in India’s northernmost UT to seven. Ladakh currently has just two districts, Leh and Kargil.
Kargil: Hill Development Council
Elections
2023
Oct 9, 2023: The Times of India
The National Conference has won 12, the Congress 10, the BJP 2, and others 2 seats in this election. (IANS)The National Conference-Congress alliance swept the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Kargil polls, routing the BJP that managed to get just 2 out of the 26 seats for which direct elections were held.
LAHDC Kargil has a total of 30 members out of which 26 are directly elected and four are appointed to represent women and minority communities.
The National Conference has won 12, the Congress 10, the BJP 2, and others 2 seats in this election.
This is the first election held in Ladakh after the region became a Union Territory following the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of J&K into two UTs. Prominent losers include former Chairman of the council, Haji Anayat Ali. Although the BJP fielded its candidates for all the seats, but the contest from the very beginning looked heavily loaded in favour of the National Conference-Congress alliance.
Statehood demand. Protests
2019-2025
Sep 24, 2025: The Times of India
adakh protests: Protestors demanding statehood and the Sixth Schedule for Ladakh set a BJP office on fire, and police fired teargas shells to disperse them on Wednesday (September 24). This triggered a massive shutdown sponsored by the Leh Apex Body (LAB) in Ladakh’s Leh town.
Four were killed and 30 others were injured in intense clashes between protesters and security personnel.
Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk ended his 15-day hunger fast following the violence. In a social media post, Wangchuk appealed to Ladakh’s youth, urging them to protest peacefully and not derail the movement of over five years, which seeks to urge the Centre to advance talks on the long-pending demands.
Here is what to know.
What has spurred the protests in Ladakh?
The issue dates back to 2019, since Article 370 was repealed and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 was passed. The result was the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories: Jammu and Kashmir with a legislature, and Ladakh without one.
The political and legal status of Ladakh has remained contentious since, with the people of the UT finding themselves under direct central administration.
What is the demand for the Sixth Schedule in Ladakh?
Given that over 90% of Ladakh’s population belongs to the Scheduled Tribes, there has been a consistent demand to include the region under the Sixth Schedule.
The Sixth Schedule under Article 244 of the Indian Constitution provides for the formation of autonomous administrative regions called Autonomous District Councils (ADCs), which govern tribal-majority areas in certain northeastern states.
ADCs have up to 30 members with a term of five years and can make laws, rules and regulations on land, forest, water, agriculture, village councils, health, sanitation, village- and town-level policing, etc. Currently, there are 10 ADCs in the North East, with three each in Assam, Meghalaya and Mizoram, and one in Tripura.
Who is Sonam Wangchuk?
Wangchuk is an engineer and innovator of sustainable products. He is best known as having inspired a character essayed by Aamir Khan in the 2009 Hindi film 3 Idiots.
In 2018, he was awarded the prestigious Ramon Magsaysay Award, in recognition of “his uniquely systematic, collaborative and community-driven reform of learning systems in remote northern India, thus improving the life opportunities of Ladakhi youth, and his constructive engagement of all sectors in local society… setting an example for minority peoples in the world.”
What is Wangchuk’s role in the protests?
In recent years, Wangchuk has flagged issues related to autonomy in the administration of Ladakh. In 2019, He wrote a letter to then-Union Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda seeking Scheduled Area status for Ladakh under the Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution.
Munda responded with a letter, saying his ministry was “seized of the matter” and it had communicated a proposal to the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, there was no subsequent discussion on the subject with the leaders of Ladakh, Wangchuk said in 2023.
Student-led protests in 2019 were supported by former MP Thupstan Chhewang, who then created the Leh Apex Body (ABL). Organisations in Kargil also came together to form the Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA).
Wangchuk has maintained that protections under the Sixth Schedule were an election promise made by the BJP in 2019, and that the Government of India has to keep its word.
He also said the people of Ladakh have demanded the decentralisation of power as they believe that “lower levels of bureaucracy” may have been “influenced by industrial powers and business houses”, who wanted “mining to take place in every valley here”.
Is this the first time protests have broken out?
No. On March 6 2024, two days after talks among the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the ABL and KDA fizzled out, Wangchuk and others began a fast in Leh. He subsisted on water and salt and slept outdoors in sub-zero temperatures for 21 days.
Subsequently, a planned ‘Pashmina march’ to the China border was cancelled, with Wangchuk claiming the administration told them Section 144 would be imposed, which prohibited unlawful assemblies. The march meant to highlight the issues faced by shepherds who have traditionally reared the famed Pashmina goats in Leh. These included the loss of land to corporations who planned to set up large industrial plants, and the activities of the Chinese along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), according to Wangchuk.
Many in Leh had initially welcomed the 2019 moves revoking special status for J&K, and had demanded UT status and separation from the administrative set-up of J&K. However, Ladakhis soon began to feel the loss of significant powers of the autonomous hill development councils, and the shortage of jobs after being delinked from the J&K recruitment boards.
In September 2024, the ‘Delhi Chalo Padyatra’ was organised by the LAB, with a four-point agenda for the support of Ladakh’s statehood, extension of the Sixth Schedule, early recruitment process, as well as a public service commission for Ladakh and separate Lok Sabha seats for Leh and Kargil districts.
YEAR WISE DEVELOPMENTS
1931-2025
BASHAARAT MASOOD, Sep 29, 2025: The Indian Express
In 1931, when Kashmir erupted against Dogra rule after the killing of 22 protesters outside the Srinagar Central Jail, the British Resident in Kashmir strongly advocated for a commission to probe Muslim grievances.
Under pressure, Maharaja Hari Singh set up the Glancy Commission, headed by British official B J Glancy. The panel recommended the creation of a Praja Sabha or People’s Assembly, consisting of 75 seats: 33 elected, 30 nominated, and 12 official members. Of the 33 elected seats, 10 were reserved for Hindus, two for Sikhs, and 21 for Muslims. Ladakh, then a district, was allotted only two nominated seats.
It was Pandit Sridhar Kaul, a Kashmiri Hindu from Rainawari in Srinagar who, while serving as an Education Officer in Leh, led the formation of the Young Men’s Buddhist Association (YMBA), which later became the Ladakh Buddhist Association (LBA).
Ladakh’s modern political history is deeply intertwined with the LBA, which, while presenting itself as a non-political, socio-religious organisation, has significantly shaped the region’s politics over the decades. Although its primary mission is to promote Buddhist interests, foster social reforms, and preserve Ladakh’s culture and identity, the LBA has consistently been at the forefront of political and social struggles in Buddhist-majority Leh.
For four centuries, Ladakh was ruled by the Namgyal dynasty before it was annexed into the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir under the Dogras. After the Partition, Ladakh’s political trajectory was largely defined by the LBA, which had long supported the idea of Union Territory (UT) status for Ladakh. However, the demand was scaled down to seeking an autonomous region, as the amendment of Article 370 was considered politically infeasible at the time.
In 1989, Thupstan Chhewang was elected the LBA’s president. Chhewang, who now heads the Apex Body, Leh (ABL), along with key figures such as Chering Dorjey Lakruk, Rigzin Spalbar, and Nuwan Rigzin Jora, advocated for a more assertive approach toward securing UT status for Ladakh.
Previous incidents of firing
The same year, a minor altercation between a Buddhist youth and four Muslims escalated into communal tensions, with the LBA calling for a boycott of Muslims in Leh. During this period, the LBA intensified its push for UT status. On August 27, 1989, the police opened fire on protesters near Leh’s historic polo ground, killing three men: Nawang Rinchen, Tsering Lobzang, and Tashi Angchuk. This was only the second instance of violence in Ladakh in many decades, the first being in 1981 when two Buddhists were killed during a protest demanding Scheduled Tribe status for Ladakhis.
Ladakh has historically been a region of contradictions — Leh, with its Buddhist majority, and Kargil, with its Muslim majority, have always had contrasting political aspirations. While Leh fought for UT status, Kargil wanted to remain aligned with J&K.
At the height of the LBA’s agitation, Kargil formed the Kargil Action Committee (KAC), led by religious head Ahmad Mohammadi. The KAC opposed the idea of a Union Territory and instead called for Ladakh to be granted divisional status within Jammu and Kashmir, similar to the Kashmir and Jammu divisions. The KAC’s efforts culminated in the election of Mohammad Hassan Commander, a Kargil Muslim, as Ladakh’s first Muslim MP.
Amid the continuing boycott of Muslims in Leh, the Central government intervened, initiating tripartite talks between the Centre, the J&K government, and the LBA. Although the talks saw multiple setbacks, especially after the fall of the Congress government and the rise of V P Singh and Chandra Shekhar governments, progress resumed with the return of Congress in 1991. By 1995, during the P V Narasimha Rao government, the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) Act was passed, paving the way for hill councils in Leh and Kargil. While Leh immediately embraced the Hill Council, Kargil deferred its decision until 2003, when the LAHDC Kargil was finally established.
For decades, Leh was a stronghold of Congress. However, as its struggle for Union Territory and Hill Council status was ignored by the Congress-led Centre and the J&K government, the LBA found support from the R S S and its ideological partners. In return, the R S S gained a foothold in Leh. Several LBA leaders, including Chhewang and Lakruk, joined the BJP, which got its first MP from Ladakh in the form of Chhewang in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.
On August 5, 2019, the abrogation of J&K’s special Constitutional status and its division into two UTs, including Ladakh, was met with celebrations in Leh, with the LBA viewing it as the culmination of its long struggle.
However, six years later, Ladakh’s political landscape has shifted once again. Chhewang, Lakruk, and other former BJP allies have parted ways with the party and are now leading a renewed campaign for Ladakh’s statehood and inclusion under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. And for the first time, Leh and Kargil are on the same page, at least in their demands.
2019
‘Divisional status’
In a decision aimed at boosting governance and development initiatives in the Ladakh region, the Jammu & Kashmir government has approved the creation of a separate administrative-cum-revenue division for Ladakh. The new division, which fulfils a long-standing demand of the people of Ladakh, will comprise Leh and Kargil districts, with its headquarters at Leh.
J&K now comprises three divisions — Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh. Until now, Ladakh was part of the Kashmir division. “The government has also approved the creation of posts of divisional commissioner (Ladakh), Leh, and inspector general of police (Ladakh), Leh,” an official spokesperson said. “Further, a committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of principal secretary, planning, development and monitoring department, to identify the posts of divisional level heads of various departments that may be required for the new division, particularly their staffing pattern, role and responsibilities, and proposed location of these offices,” he added.
31 Oct: Union Territory status
Bharti Jain, Nov 2, 2019: The Times of India
From: Bharti Jain, Nov 2, 2019: The Times of India
Key Highlights
In a statement, the ministry of home affairs said the UT of Ladakh consists of two districts of Kargil and Leh
The rest of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir is in the UT of Jammu and Kashmir
NEW DELHI: The political maps of newly-formed Union Territories of J&K and Ladakh, released by the Survey General of India, depict UT of J&K as comprising 22 districts including Muzaffarabad and Mirpur in PoK. The UT of Ladakh, as per the latest map, has two districts of Kargil and Leh, with the latter encompassing the erstwhile districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, Tribal Territory, and Leh and Ladakh.
The districts in UT of J&K, as per the new map, include Kathua, Jammu, Samba, Udhampur, Doda, Kishtwar, Rajouri, Reasi, Ramban, Poonch, Kulgam, Shopian, Srinagar, Anantnag, Budgam, Pulwama, Ganderbal, Bandipora, Baramulla, Kupwara, Mirpur and Muzaffarabad.
The UT of Ladakh, as per the official map, will comprise the districts of Kargil, carved out of area of Leh and Ladakh district as outlined in 1947, and Leh, which will encompass the erstwhile districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, Tribal Territory, and areas of Leh and Ladakh remaining after carving of Kargil.
In 1947, the former state of Jammu and Kashmir had 14 districts, namely, Kathua, Jammu, Udhampur, Reasi, Anantnag, Baramulla, Poonch, Mirpur, Muzaffarabad, Leh and Ladakh, Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas, and Tribal Territory.
By 2019, the state government of former J&K had reorganized the areas of these 14 districts into 28 districts. The names of the new districts are Kupwara, Bandipur, Ganderbal, Srinagar, Budgam, Pulwama, Shupian, Kulgam, Rajouri, Ramban, Doda, Kishtivar, Samba and Kargil.
Out of these, Kargil district was carved out from the area of Leh and Ladakh district. The Leh district of the new Union Territory of Ladakh has been defined in the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganization (Removal of Difficulties) Second Order, 2019, issued by the President of India, to include the areas of the districts of Gilgit, Gilgit Wazarat, Chilhas and Tribal Territory of 1947, in addition to the remaining areas of Leh and Ladakh districts of 1947, after carving out the Kargil District.
On this basis, the maps prepared by Survey General of India depicting the new Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, as created on 31 October 2019, along with the map of India, have been released.
The UTs of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh are headed by lieutenant governors G C Murmu and R K Mathur, respectively.
This is for the first time that a state was converted into two UTs. The total number of states in the country are now 28, while the total UTs have gone up to nine.
The UT of Jammu and Kashmir has a legislature like Puducherry while Ladakh will stay a UT without legislature like Chandigarh.
2025
Reservation in jobs; Official languages
Bharti Jain, June 4, 2025: The Times of India
New Delhi : Conceding the longstanding demands of Ladakhi people for safeguarding their economic rights as well as cultural and linguistic identity, the Centre introduced new reservation and domicile policy for the Union Territory, guaranteeing 85% quota to locals in jobs while also reserving onethird seats for women in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils.
English, Hindi, Urdu, Bhoti and Purgi languages were notified as official languages of Ladakh, with new regulation also requiring boosting institutional mechanisms for promoting native languages like Shina (Dardic), Brokskat (Dardic), Balti and Ladakhi.
Ladakh Autonomous Council to reserve 33% of seats for women
Centre’s move seeks to assuage the sentiments of Ladakh’s native population that had been demanding constitutional safeguards to protect their language, culture and land after the special status of the erstwhile state of J&K, which included Ladakh, under Article 370 was abrogated in 2019, and Ladakh hived off into a separate Union Territory. Though short of their demand for Ladakh’s inclusion in Sixth Schedule of the Constitution, the 85% reservation for local Ladakhis in govt jobs and seats in professional institutions, was worked out in consultations held by a high-powered committee led by junior home minister Nityanand Rai, with civil society organisations from Ladakh.
The safeguards for Ladakh finally implemented on Tuesday, are contained in a set of three separate regulations promulgated by the President of India on Monday. The UT of Ladakh Reservation (Amendment) Bill Regulation, 2025 amends provisions of the parent J&K Reservation Act, 2004, to raise the cap on total reservation in jobs and professional institutions in Ladakh to 85%, excluding the 10% quota for economically weaker sections.
The Ladakh Civil Services Decentralisation and Recruitment (Amendment) Regulation, 2025, defines the conditions for domicile status: anyone who has resided in Ladakh for 15 years, or who has studied for seven years and appeared in Class 10 or 12 examination in a school located in UT, or whose parents are central govt officers who served in UT for 10 years. Children or spouses of Ladakhis fulfilling the 15-year domicile condition will also get domicile status. The procedure for grant of domicile certificate, notified in a separate set of rules, makes tehsildar the competent authority to issue domicile certificates; an officer appointed by the UT administrator will do the same for the children of central govt officers with 10-year service in Ladakh.
The Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) Regulation 2025, notified on Tuesday, states that “not less than one-third of the total number of seats in the council shall be reserved for women and such seats may be allotted by rotation to different territorial constituencies”. The move is in line with spirit of the Nari Shakti Vandan Act, which provides for 33% quota to women in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
Ladakh has two autonomous hill development councils —one each for Leh and Kargil.
Centre had assured a delegation from Ladakh in Dec2023 that it was committed to fasttracking the development of UT and meeting aspirations of the people in the region. Subsequently, an HPC for Ladakh was constituted under Nityanand Rai. In Aug 2024, Centre created five new districts in Ladakh — Zanskar, Drass, Sham, Nubra and Changthang.
