ARTICLE 370 (Syllabus: GS Paper 2 – Polity)
Context: Recently, the voting for the fifth Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC)-Kargil took place, marking the first elections in Ladakh following the revocation of Article 370.
Article 370 and its Removal
- Background: The Constituent Assembly of Jammu & Kashmir (through Article 370) was empowered to recommend which articles of the Indian Constitution should apply to the state.
- Clause 3 of the article 370 gives the President of India the power to amend its provisions and scope.
- Removal of Article 370:
o Amendments were made to make applicable the entirety of India’s Constitution to Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).
o It was done when the State was under President’s Rule with no elected Legislative Assembly in place.
o In 2019, the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order 2019, issued by the President, withdrew the special status of J&K and extended all provisions of the Indian Constitution to J&K.
o The J&K (Reorganisation) Act 2019 bifurcated J&K into two UTs - J&K was an UT with a Legislative Assembly; Ladakh was without an Assembly.
Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council
- LAHDC, Leh was constituted in accordance with the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council Act, 1995.
- The Council came into being with the holding of elections on August 28,1995.
- The democratic constitution of the Council has heralded democratic decentralization of planning process with the involvement of people at the grass root level.
