No draft, no breakthrough in Ladakh-MHA talks

The Centre did not present the long-awaited draft for Ladakh's proposed UT-level elected body, disappointing representatives

Chandra Maurya

September 10, 2026

The Centre did not present the long-awaited draft for Ladakh's proposed UT-level elected body, disappointing representatives

Ladakh’s elected body still in limbo

High hopes of representatives of Ladakh, who attended a sub-committee-level meeting with officials of the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi on Wednesday, crumbled after the government failed to present the long-awaited draft of a proposed elected body for the Union Territory of Ladakh.

However, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is understood to have communicated to these representatives from Ladakh that the proposed UT-level body will be formed through direct elections and another meeting will be held in the month of October in Ladakh to carry forward the dialogue process.

In their first reaction after the meeting ended, the representatives claimed no headway could be achieved during the talks. “We are very disappointed. There was hardly anything new beyond the last meeting four months ago”.

Representatives of the Leh Apex Body and Kargil Democratic Alliance said they had come to Delhi expecting a draft listing the proposed body’s structure, powers and other details.

Ladakh Chief Secretary Ashish Kundra described the discussions in positive terms and said the broad contours of a governance model under Article 371 were discussed.

“Attended the sub-committee meeting with leaders of Ladakh at MHA in Delhi. A general air of positivity prevailed as the broad contours of a sui generis model of governance under Article 371 of the Constitution were discussed– deepening democracy is the goal,” Kundra said in a post on X.

Attended the sub committee meeting with leaders of Ladakh at MHA in Delhi today . A general air of positivity prevailed as the broad contours of a Sui-generis model of governance under Article 371 of the Constitution were discussed. Deepening democracy is the goal.
— Ashish Kundra (@ashishkundra) September 9, 2026

Climate activist and educationist Sonam Wangchuk said the delegation was instead given a list of questions for discussion at the next round of talks.

In a post on X, Wangchuk said Thursday, “MHA prepared no draft to discuss, no response on the list of Non-negotiables Ladakh had sent a month ago, not even an assurance of not doing any major irreversible restructuring of local governance, land transfer policies, etc before a legitimate democratic Assembly is in place… The only major outcome of the meeting was perhaps to fix the next meeting date… in October. This is why we’re reminded of famous comedian Jaspal Bhatti‘s meetings today. As we had guessed, this meeting on 9th Sept seems to be just a red herring to distract Ladakh from the massive Leh to Kargil Padyatra march that was to start on 10th Sept. Trust is diminishing; distrust is growing, unfortunately”.

LADAKH LEADERS CALL A PRESS CONFERENCE
AT 4pm, LADAKH BHAVAN, NEW DELHI
Leaders of Apex Body of Leh & Kargil Democratic Alliance are rather disappointed by the Sub Committee level meeting in New Delhi on 9th Sept.
There was hardly anything new beyond the last meeting four months… pic.twitter.com/NFSFLW6PKG
— Sonam Wangchuk (@Wangchuk66) September 10, 2026

KDA representative Sajjad Kargili also said the delegation had expected the draft to be ready.

“We had come from Ladakh with the hope that a draft would be ready for creating the UT-level elected body, an issue on which there is a consensus. We were hoping that the talks would go forward from there. But unfortunately, we were disappointed,” he said.

Kargili said the meeting reiterated that the proposed UT-level body would be elected, with separate delimitation and constituencies. He said the groups were also assured of constitutional safeguards covering land, mining, identity, culture and languages.

“However, we will consider these things satisfactory only when a draft of this will reach us, and on that draft, we will see whether these things are coming down to the ground or not,” he said.

Wangchuk said the Centre indicated that compensation would be provided to those killed or injured during the September 24, 2025 violence in Leh.

“One thing we can say gives hope is that those who were martyred or injured on 24th September last year; they are ready to give compensation. And they will announce it soon,” he said.

In a May 22 meeting in New Delhi, the LAB and KDA reached an in-principle understanding with the Government of India on restoring democracy in Ladakh and providing Constitutional safeguards along the lines of Article 371A, F, and G, and the constitution of a UT-level elected body with legislative, financial, and executive powers.

Later, two more meetings were held by the MHA in Leh in which the issues pertaining to the UT-level body were discussed, but the Home Ministry has so far not come up with broad contours of the body, such as its name, total number of seats, exact powers, and other related issues.

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