Badals-led SAD wins DSGMC polls for a third consecutive term, bags 27 of 46 seats

The Badals-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won 27 of the total 46 seats in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections, the results of which were declared on Wednesday, With this victory, the SAD is now ready to form the committee for a third consecutive term

The Badals-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) won 27 of the total 46 seats in the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections, the results of which were declared on Wednesday, With this victory, the SAD is now ready to form the committee for a third consecutive term.

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However, outgoing president of the gurdwara body, SAD’s Manjinder Singh Sirsa, lost to former president Harvinder Singh Sarna in a fierce contest from the Punjabi Bagh seat. Polls were held on August 22.

Top leaders of SAD said they view Wednesday’s victory as a precursor to the upcoming Punjab assembly elections, scheduled to be held in early 2022.

Sarnas led SAD (Delhi) won 14 seats, while former DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK, who fielded candidates from the newly formed Jago party, shrunk to three seats, including GK’s home seat of Greater Kailash. Independents won two seats.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal felicitated the Sikhs of Delhi for voting his party back to power and announced that Sirsa would continue to head the body even if he has lost the polls. “He (Sirsa) will be nominated from quota of (Amritsar-headquartered) Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC),” Sukhbir told media persons.

With an annual budget of at least ₹110 crore and the management of nine historical gurdwaras, apart from schools, colleges and hospitals, the DSGMC is a powerful body with a say in the global matters of the Sikh community, and a voice in the government at the state and Centre. The head of the DSGMC is the leader of eight lakh Sikhs living in the national capital and also the Sikhs living outside the state of Punjab and abroad. The committee also proactively takes up matters concerning the Sikh diaspora.

The DSGMC under Sirsa had won the hearts of Delhi residents during second wave of the Covid-19 for the manner in which it reached out to patients with medical support, oxygen cylinders and concentrators. The body also set up langars (community kitchens) during the lockdown, thereby helping SAD regain popularity within the community.

“I know that both governments (Centre and Delhi) worked against our party, particularly Sirsa, but despite that opposition we won,” said Sukhbir. It takes a month for the constitution of the house, he said.

As per the DSGMC Act of 1971, the 51-member house runs the gurdwara body. Apart from the 46 elected members, there is a provision to nominate one member (from SGPC quota), two members via co-option and two more from the Singh Sabhas (local gurdwaras) of Delhi.

For SAD (Delhi) president Paramit Singh Sarna results came as a shock. “We were hopeful of doing much better, but the final say is of the voters, which we accept,” he said.