E-Paper
DSGMC goes to the polls today, 212 candidates in fray for 46 posts
3.42 lakh eligible Sikh voters will elect members to represent them in the gurdwara body; results to be declared on August 25
The voting for the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) will be held on Sunday with 212 candidates in the fray in a three-cornered contest.
As many as 3.42 lakh eligible Sikh voters will elect 46 members to represent them in the gurdwara body. The contest is between the groups led by outgoing president Manjinder Singh Sirsa of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and former heads Manjit Singh GK and Paramjit Singh Sarna.
The campaigning ended on Friday.
The voting will take place from 8am to 5pm and the results will be declared on August 25. Both GK and Sirsa are training guns on each other for alleged misappropriation of gurdwara body funds, while Sarna is banking on his “clean record” and as a more credible face.
GK, who stepped down as gurdwara body head in November 2018 over allegations of corruption, says the charges were made up at the behest of the SAD leadership. Sirsa also faces similar charges with a look-out notice issued against him.
The SAD (Badal) is contesting on all 46 seats, GK’s Jago Party on 41 and Sarna’s SAD (Delhi) on 32 seats and the group led by former Akal Takht jathedar Ranjit Singh on 7 seats.
GK, as part of the SAD (Badals) won two consecutive elections in 2013 and 2017.
Nine historical gurdwaras in Delhi with an annual budget of ₹110 crore run schools, colleges and hospitals.
On July 22, the Delhi high court gave the go-ahead to hold the polls while taking up a petition, after the state government submitted a schedule. Earlier, the polls were scheduled for April 25, but were postponed indefinitely due to surge in Covid cases in the national capital. This will be the ninth elections of the DSGMC since it came to existence via an act of Parliament in 1971.
Dhindsa fails to broker peace between GK, Sarna
Rajya Sabha MP and SAD (Sanyukt) chief Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa on Wednesday met GK and Sarna persuading them to come on a common platform and contest as one force to oust the Badals-led SAD. “He visited the houses of both the leaders to broker peace, but could not as the seat-sharing arrangement could not be worked out,” said a local Sikh leader
