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Punjab: All eyes on SGPC’s Monday poll
The president will be elected through secret ballot, while other office-bearers or executive members may be elected unanimously
Stakes are high for Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal as well as the party’s rebel camp as three-time former SGPC president Jagir Kaur is all set to compete sitting president and SAD nominee Harjinder Singh Dhami in the gurdwara body annual elections to be held on Monday for the top post, other office-bearers and 11-member executive committee.
The general house session of the SGPC will start at 12 pm at Teja Singh Samundri Hall, the headquarters of the gurdwara body. The president will be elected through secret ballot, while other office-bearers or executive members may be elected unanimously.
Fielded by the rebel camp of the SAD with support of anti-Badal SGPC members, Jagir Kaur had also fought against Dhami in 2022. Though she lost, she managed to secure the support of 42 members. It was the highest count secured by any opposition candidate in the present general house which was elected in 2011. The count of the opposition votes has remained 15 in 2017, 22 in 2020 and 19 in 2021.
As the SAD’s situation has been affected and its president has been held tankhaiya (guilty of religious misconduct) for the “mistakes” committed by the party and its government from 2007 to 2017 on complaint of rebel Akali leaders, the challenge is bigger for the Badal camp. The matter of Sukhbir Singh Badal is still pending with the Akal Takht as tankhah (religious punishment) is yet to be awarded by the highest Sikh temporal seat.
Both the camps are leaving no stone unturned to garner support of the members. Amid this, Dhami has been claiming that the BJP-RSS, the AAP and the Congress are trying to influence the SGPC members to vote against him. The SAD rebel camp is asserting that this is the right time to “liberate the gurdwaras from the clutches of Badals”.
Amid the crisis in the SAD, all eyes are on the SGPC presidential poll. Of the total 191 members of the general house, 170 members are elected by Sikh voters in the general elections, 15 are co-opted, five are sitting (jathedars) heads of Sikh temporal seats and one is head granthi of Golden Temple. However, the jathedars and head granthis don’t have the right to vote.
As the general elections of the SGPC have not been conducted for the last 13 years, 31 members have expired, four resigned and two were held ineligible, as per an official of the gurdwara body.
