President Droupadi Murmu has issued the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Councils (LAHDC) (Amendment) Regulation, 2026, clearing the path for hill council polls in all eight districts of Ladakh, including the newly formed Sankoo district. The Union Cabinet had cleared the changes on 14 October 2026. Each council will now have between 7 and 24 constituencies instead of a fixed 26. Four members will be nominated from women and unrepresented communities to widen participation. Ladakh was carved out of the former State of Jammu and Kashmir as a Union Territory in 2019; earlier it had only two hill councils, at Leh and Kargil.