A mini-marathon titled ‘run to vote’ was held Saturday in Leh district of Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region which is going to polls in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections on May 6.
Brand Ambassador of Jammu and Kashmir Election AuthoritySana Dua, along with District Election Officer (DEO), Leh, Avny Lavasa andgeneral observer Alkesh Kumar Sharma flagged off the marathon from NDS stadiumin Leh, an official spokesman said. He said the marathon culminated at Leh mainBazaar amidst a gathering of huge crowd.
“The marathonwith the objective to promote voter awareness and educate the target populationabout EVM and VVPAT, was organised by the nodal officer SVEEP, Leh and theentire SVEEP team.
“All thedistrict officers, religious and social heads, teaching fraternity and studentsparticipated in the mini marathon,” the spokesman said.
Addressing the gathering, Dua appealed to the voters toexercise their voting right on May 6 for the Lok Sabha elections which willseal the fate of four contestants — BJP’s Jamyang Tsering Namgyal andCongress’ Rigzin Spalbar besides two independents, Congress rebel and formerMLA Asgar Ali Karbalai and Sajjad Hussain who is enjoying support of archrivals National Conference and PDP.
Lavasa made a special appeal to all the eligible students tobecome the ambassador of election and take the message of ethical voting totheir family, relatives, neighbours and friends to keep up the spirit ofhealthy democracy.
Veteran leader Thupstan Chhewang had won the Ladakh parliamentary seat for BJP for the first time in 2014 by a narrow margin of 36 votes by defeating Congress rebel candidate Ghulam Raza, but resigned from the primary membership of the party in November last year, claiming that all promises made by it sounded like an “empty rhetoric”.