E-Paper
SGPC polls: 35% of 41 lakh voters registered in last 45 days
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami writes to the gurdwara election commission, raising doubts over the fairness and transparency of the process.
The number of voters registered for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) polls has seen a sudden spike with the gurdwara election commission receiving close to 35% of the total 41 lakh voters’ applications in the last one and a half months. The last date to register is September 16.
As per the data available with the gurdwara election commission, a total of 41 lakh Sikhs have applied to be voters till August 27. Of these, a total of 14 lakh application forms were received in August.
Further, sources in the know of the things in the commission added that the figure may exceed 45 lakh by September 16, the last day to get registered.
“We have received additional applications in the first 10 days of September. In other words, one can say nearly 40% of Sikhs have applied to be voters in the last one and half months,” said an official, pleading anonymity. The official added that the final figure will be less than the 52 lakh voters that were registered for the 2011 elections.
Till August 27, the highest voter registration was in Amritsar (4,83,129), closely followed by Ludhiana (4,56,430) and Gurdaspur (3,59,722). The least number of voters are registered at SBS Nagar (56,770) followed by Pathankot where just 35,896 Sikhs have registered themselves.
The process for the registration of voters started on October 21, 2023. Initially, the eligible voters for the election of the SGPC house were to be registered till November 15, 2023, but it was extended till February 29, 2024 and then till April 30. Thereafter after seeing a dull response, two more extensions were given first till July 31 and then till September 16.
The last elections of the SGPC house, which are supposed to be conducted after five years as per law, were held in 2011. As the Supreme Court was deciding on the case ‘Sehajdhari Sikhs’ right to vote the apex court stayed the new house from taking over and asked the then executive to run the SGPC affairs.
In 2016, the Supreme Court reinstated the general house and disposed of the ‘Sehajdhari Sikhs’ petition.
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.
There are a total of 110 constituencies in Punjab, out of which 47 segments are represented by two members each, while 30 constituencies are reserved for women candidates. In the last 13 years, nearly 28 members have died, while two have resigned, SGPC officials added.
Sikh bodies raise objections
SGPC and other Sikh bodies have objected to the process of registration of voters with Gurdwara election commission chief, justice SS Saron (retd).
SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami raised doubts over the fairness and transparency of the process.
In a letter written to Saron, Dhami said, “Punjab government is ignoring the rules set for registration for elections. Complaints and information have been received from the Sangat (Community) that government employees are registering votes from the voter lists for the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha elections without verification with regards to whether the voter is an Amritdhari (initiated) and Sabat Soorat (with unshorn hair) Sikh.”
Despite repeated attempts, Justice Saron (retd) could not be contacted for a comment.
