The Supreme Court on Wednesday, while setting aside the notification issued by the Union Territory of Ladakh for the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) elections in Kargil region, directed the UT administration to issue a fresh notification on the same within seven days.
The Bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Ahsanuddin Amanullah further upheld the verdict passed by the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, notifying the ‘plough’ symbol for the Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Party.
Coming down heavily on the UT for filing a petition against the allotment, the top court of the country imposed a cost of Rs one lakh on the Ladakh administration.
Reading out the operative portion of the judgement, Justice Amanullah said that the entire election process issued by the administration by Ladakh for the September 10 polls has been set aside.
A detailed copy of the order is awaited.
The Ladakh administration had moved the Apex Court by way of a Special Leave Petition against the High Court of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh notifying the plough symbol for JKNC.
The Counsel for JKNC contended that the ‘plough’ symbol was reserved for it as the party was recognised by the Election Commission of India as a state party of Jammu and Kashmir.
Appearing for the UT, Additional Solicitor General K.M. Nataraj argued that JKNC was not a recognised state party in Ladakh and hence, could not claim vested right over the reserved symbol.
As per Nataraj, the High Court had erred in placing reliance on the Election (Symbols) Order 1968 as it did not apply to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Bench then pointed out that the state of J&K was no longer in existence and all the Indian laws were applicable to the region after the 2019 changes.