The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is preparing to file a defamation lawsuit against the Delhi government for allegedly defying the orders of the Supreme Court on holding elections to the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) before December 31. A spokesman said the decision was taken at a meeting of the SAD core committee presided over by the party’s patron-in-chief and Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh here on Saturday. Party president and Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal was among those present.

The SAD has authorised party secretary Daljeet Singh Cheema to initiate proceedings for a defamation suit against the Delhi state government “for deliberately defying court orders on DSGMC elections on one flimsy pretext or another”. The DSGMC polls were actually due early last year.

“The Delhi government first used the revision of electoral rolls as an excuse but the court dismissed it,” said SAD spokesman and CM’s adviser Harcharan Bains.

“It then had an afterthought and looked for excuses for defying the letter and the spirit of the SC verdict by stating that it was planning to amend the mode of election of the DSGMC elections,” Bains added.

The current DSGMC set-up, led by the Badals’ sworn political enemy and SAD-Delhi chief Paramjit Singh Sarna, has proposed direct election of the committee president, as against the current procedure of the members choosing their head.