Leh: Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has been placed under a 60-day ‘house arrest’, and barred from participating in public rallies or processions.
The Leh additional district magistrate issued the order a day after Wangchuk was removed from a site amid protests by Ladakhi groups opposing the administration’s decision to hold hill council elections on December 4.
The Ladakh administration cited a police report and a letter by the Leh police chief requesting that preventive orders be issued against Wangchuk. Section 163 of the BNSS has been invoked to impose restrictions on Wangchuk’s movement.
“This order shall come into force with immediate effect and shall remain in force for a period of 60 days,” the order said.
The climate activist and other local leaders have been opposing the timing of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council elections, arguing that winter conditions and seasonal migration will disenfranchise many voters in the Union territory.
“I am under house arrest. Dozens of armed guards surround my house while the government version says ‘I have been advised to stay at home’. All for asking uncomfortable questions like… why is the Judicial Enquiry Commission Report (of last year’s killings in Leh) is delayed and a phoney council election foisted on people with rocket speed in mid winter? Whole of Ladakh is in protest. My X, Instagram & YouTube reach have been drastically suppressed in the world’s largest democracy. Please help share this message,” Wangchuk wrote on X.
The Ladakh administration will conduct the first major electoral exercise following the formation of separate Union territory in 2019.
Elections to all eight hill development councils are scheduled to be held on December 4. The eight councils will have 100 constituencies, including 36 seats reserved for women.
The polls have been announced in the backdrop of a prolonged agitation in Leh and Kargil as political and civil society groups demand statehood and constitutional safeguards under the Sixth Schedule.