Climate activist Sonam Wangchuk has said police placed him under house arrest in Leh, as protests grow against holding Ladakh hill council elections in the middle of winter. He posted on social media that dozens of armed guards surrounded his house.
Police removed Sonam Wangchuk from a protest site in Leh on Wednesday, when he had gone to oversee preparations for a demonstration. Officers then escorted him to his residence and told him to remain indoors, citing prohibitory orders issued by the chief electoral officer of the Union Territory and the district magistrate of Leh.
Sonam Wangchuk disputes police account
“I AM UNDER HOUSE ARREST. Dozens of armed guards surround my house while the government version says I have been advised to stay at home,” Wangchuk wrote on X. He said he was being restricted for asking why a judicial enquiry report into killings in Leh last year had been delayed, and why council elections were being held at speed in mid-winter.
Ladakh director general of police Anand Jain confirmed on X that Wangchuk had been advised to stay at his residence in view of the prohibitory orders. Police said Sonam Wangchuk was removed from the protest site at NDS Memorial Park in Leh late on Wednesday.
The Leh district administration then issued a 60-day movement restriction order against Sonam Wangchuk. Acting on a report from the senior superintendent of police in Leh, the additional district magistrate invoked Section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, which allows preventive restrictions on movement and public assembly.
Wangchuk is a climate activist and innovator from Ladakh, known for his work on education and water conservation in the region. He is a member of the Leh Apex Body, a grouping of social, religious and political organisations that has pressed for statehood and constitutional safeguards for Ladakh.
Tensions in Leh rose last year after protests in September 2025 ended in violence and deaths. A judicial enquiry commission was set up to examine the killings, and Wangchuk has questioned why its report has still not been released.
Sonam Wangchuk and the 4 December polls
Elections to eight Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils are scheduled for 4 December. The polls will fill 100 seats, 50 each in Leh and Kargil, after the administration raised the number of constituencies from 26 in each of the former districts. Municipal and panchayat elections are due on 21 November, and votes for all the polls will be counted on 8 December.
Sonam Wangchuk and other local leaders want the council polls deferred. They argue that harsh winter weather makes voting difficult, and that a large part of the population, including students, leaves Ladakh during December. Leh Apex Body co-chairman Chering Dorjay Lakrook has said nearly 30 per cent of the population is outside the region in winter.
The 4 December vote will be the first full council election in Ladakh since Parliament divided Jammu and Kashmir in 2019 and made Ladakh a separate Union Territory without a legislature. The administration notified the elections on 20 October, after creating eight districts in the region.
Sonam Wangchuk appeals to Delhi
Sonam Wangchuk and his colleagues in the Leh Apex Body issued an appeal to President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and home minister Amit Shah, asking them to defer the polls. The appeal came after police removed Wangchuk from the protest site and confined him to his home.
The Leh Apex Body and the Kargil Democratic Alliance have campaigned together for statehood for Ladakh and for safeguards under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. They have jointly opposed the winter schedule. They say the timing leaves many voters unable to take part, and they have pressed the administration to hold the polls after winter instead.
The administration has not changed the schedule. Campaigning is under way across the 100 constituencies, and nominations are being finalised ahead of the 4 December vote. The 60-day restriction order on Sonam Wangchuk runs until mid-January, past the polling date and the counting of votes on 8 December.