Congress, NC face CEC crisis in Kargil, announces no-confidence motion against Akhoon

SRINAGAR: After Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC-Kargil) chief executive councillor Dr Mohd Jaffer Akhoon refused to step down after completing his two-and-a-half-year term, the Indian National Congress and the NC on Thursday announced they would move a no-confidence motion against him.

Under a power-sharing agreement between the two parties, the CEC’s post was to be handed over to the Congress for the remaining two-and-a-half years. Akhoon is from NC.

“Before the LAHDC-Kargil elections in 2023, the INC and NC entered into a pre-poll alliance and signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) stating that the five-year council term would be shared on a rotational basis, with each party holding power for two-and-a-half years,” Congress leader Asgar Ali Karbalai said addressing a presser in Kargil.

Under the agreement, the NC was given the post of CEC and two executive councillor posts for the first term and the Congress was given two executive councillors. This arrangement, Karbalai said, was to continue for two-and-a-half years, which ended on April 18, 2026.

Karbalai said the CEC was supposed to resign and transfer power to Congress but he chose not to despite requests from the NC high command including Dr Farooq Abdullah and the Congress prompting a no-confidence motion against him and the existing council.” “Eleven Congress councillors and five NC councillors have signed the no-confidence motion,” Karbalai said. He said the coalition of the NC and Congress will remain intact.

Mohmad Haneefa, the NC-supported Ladakh MP, addressing the presser said for the last two-and-a-half years, both parties have governed the council smoothly under the CEC despite many challenges including those posed by the Union Territory set up. He said as the CEC has not resigned, the NC-Congress have decided to move a no-confidence motion. “Even a one-third majority would have been sufficient but we are submitting it with a simple majority.”

NC had emerged as the single largest party in the 2023 elections with 12 seats in the 30-member council. Congress had won 10, The allies together commanded 22 seats, six more than the majority, BJP bagged two seats.

Unfazed, Dr Akhoon said he will not resign despite Thursday’s developments. He cited administrative fallouts from creation of five new districts in the UT Ladakh recently as the reason not to step down. He also said he was not for politics but for development and will focus on the same.

The 2023 polls were politically significant as they were held after removal of Article 370 in Aug 2019 and formation of Ladakh and J&K as two Union territories (UT). NC vice-president and J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah had expressed gratitude to Congress for its "unwavering support" and thanked the people of Kargil for backing the alliance.

Ladakh UT has two hill councils -- LAHDC-K and Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council-Leh (LAHDC-L). The Leh council was established in 1995 and the one for Kargil in 2003

The Centre had approved five new Ladakh districts in Aug 2024. Lieutenant- governor Vinai Kumar Saxena notified them on April 26 this year, taking the total to seven. The new districts are Sham, Nubra, Changthang in Leh, and Zanskar and Drass in Kargil. It is not clear if these will come under the Kargil and Leh councils or whether they will have separate bodies.