In an uncontested election, Dorjey Mutup, sitting Executive Councillor for education, representing the Kyungam constituency, was elected unopposed as the next Chairman/ Chief Executive Councillor, Hill Council Leh, on February 19, at the Council Secretariat Hall here.  Mutup will assume the charge as the 7th Chairman/CEC of LAHDC Leh.

Before starting the election process, a two-minute silence was observed in the memory of the late Dr. Sonam Dawa.

Out of four Executive Councillors, only one is a new face, Gyal P. Wangyal, representing the Sakti constituency, and the rest three remain unchanged.

Earlier, on 18 February, in a meeting of the Bhartiya Janata Party, Leh, held under the chairmanship of Thupstan Chhewang, Member of Parliament (LS), Chering Dorje, Minister for Ladakh Affairs & Co-op, Govt. of J&K and Tsewang Gonbo, District President, BJP , nominated the name of Dorjey Mutup.

Gyal P. Wangyal, Sakti Councillor proposed the name of Dorjay Motup and Tsering Morup, Councillor, Tingmosgang, supported the proposal. No second nomination was filed.

Avny Lavasa, Deputy Commissioner, declared Dorjey Mutup elected unopposed to fill the seat of Chairman/ Chief Executive Councillor for Hill Council, Leh. 

Sat Sharma, BJP state President, said, “After the demise of the late Dr. Sonam Dawa, it was very difficult to fill the post. Now, we have elected a new CEC. Only one nomination was there and Dorjey Mutup has been elected unopposed.  Development of Ladakh should be the first priority of the CEC. My best wishes are with him.” 

Chering Dorje, Minister for Ladakh Affairs & Co-op, Govt. of J&K said, "This is for the first time in Ladakh that a sitting CEC suddenly has passed away and such a situation came up. It was a big responsibility to handle this. The late Dr. Sonam Dawa was a great leader and the task taken by him will be taken forward by the new CEC, Dorjey Mutup.  Earlier also, Dorjey Mutup has worked with me and I know his capability. He takes everyone along with him and has a very good working style.”

Talking about the time in appointing the new CEC, he further said, “There was a need of constitutional requirement of 10 days’ gap. In Ladakh, there is a very good thing we always do it unanimously and it doesn’t matter to whichever party we belong to and do not fight for the seat. I and Thupstan Chhewang, MP, after seeing the majority in his favour, declared Mutup’s name in a BJP meeting held on February 18. We already had taken the views from the other Councillors. Views were also taken from Nawang Rigzin Jora, MLA, Leh, and MLA, Nubra Deldan Namgyal. When it comes to the development of Ladakh, we cooperate with each other. And in future also, I hope this tradition will continue.” 

Talking about the Thiksay constituency election, he said that after discussing with the Deputy Commissioner, they will conduct the election within six months. 

Dorjey Mutup, the new Chief Executive Councillor, briefing the media said, “All the activities of Hill Council will be for the development of Ladakh and for the welfare of the people. I wanted to extend my thanks to Chering Dorjey, Minister for Cooperative and Ladakh Affairs and Thupstan Chhewang, MP, for conducting the election process on time. From now on, there will be no hindrance to the development of Ladakh. For the last two-and-a-half years, the Late Dr. Sonam Dawa had done lot of developments in Ladakh. I too promise to work dedicatedly for the development of Ladakh". 

Earlier, Motup expressed his thanks to all the Councillors for electing him unopposed and promised to take along everyone to work for the development of Ladakh.