Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) managed to retain its maintain over the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), with its candidate Harjinder Singh Dhami defeating Akali insurgent Bibi Jagir Kaur within the Wednesday election held to elect the chief of the apex gurdwara authority.
Whereas Dhami is the incumbent SGPC president, Kaur has headed the panel on three earlier events. Dhami received with a cushty margin, cornering 104 votes out of the 146 votes. His rival, Jagir Kaur, obtained the remaining 42 votes.
Wednesday’s election was an important litmus check for the Akalis who have been confronted with the potential of shedding their a long time lengthy management over the SGPC.
“I thank Akal Purakh, Khalsa Panth and SGPC members for giving a convincing rebuff to anti Sikh conspirators and their stooges by reposing religion within the Akali Dal,” SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal tweeted, after his social gathering’s candidate retained the SGPC presidency
The SGPC president, a 11-member govt physique and workplace bearers are answerable for the day-to-day working of the Committee. They’re elected yearly from among the many members of the SGPC.
Normally the elections happen in November every year. Because the majority of the SGPC members owe their allegiance to the SAD, these elections are, typically, a cakewalk for the Akali candidates.
A statutory physique created below the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925, the SGPC controls and manages tons of of different Sikh gurdwaras — a few of them historic — in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
The SGPC is an influential authority because it instructions not simply the functioning of among the greatest gurdwaras however is answerable for their monetary administration as effectively. The Golden Temple alone has an annual finances of Rs 1,000 crore. The SGPC workplace is inside the premises of the Golden Temple in Amritsar.
The panel attracts temporal power by working in tandem with the 5 takhts or seats of energy of the Sikhs, together with the Akal Takht Amritsar which is taken into account to be the best Sikh temporal physique. The excessive monks of the 5 takhts are ex officio members of the SGPC.
Other than managing gurdwaras, the SGPC is entrusted with the duty of spreading the Sikh faith. It’s the last authority in instances the place both Sikhs or non-Sikhs come into battle with the conventions and traditions of Sikhism.
It additionally exhorts Sikhs the world over to uphold the Sikh Rehat Maryada (code of conduct). The SGPC is the lone authority that may print and distribute saroops (types) of the Guru Granth Sahib. The panel additionally runs a number of training establishments, together with colleges, faculties, polytechnics, universities, a medical and a dental school.
The SGPC additionally takes up Sikh points with governments, each India and overseas, if their guidelines and rules compromise the maryada of any Sikh.
Other than being baptised Sikhs, SGPC members are anticipated to be adept within the information of Sikh historical past and scriptures. They’re anticipated to be religious moreover strictly adhering to the Sikh rehat maryada. Nevertheless, some SGPC members together with some presidents have been mired in varied controversies over time together with expenses of corruption and misconduct.
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SGPC elections
The creation of the SGPC was the results of the Gurdwara reform motion of the Twenties as a part of which Sikh leaders wrested management of the gurdwaras from mahants, or the hereditary managers of the gurdwaras. The gurdwara reform motion culminated within the adoption of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act 1925 that established the SGPC as a physique company.
Of the 191 SGPC members, 170 are elected by Sikhs by way of poll paper voting in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh each 5 years. The elections are performed by the Gurdwara Election Fee, which was arrange for the aim below the Act. As many as 15 members are nominated from amongst outstanding Sikhs throughout India whereas 6 embody the 5 excessive monks and the Golden Temple’s head granthi.
Solely Sikhs registered as voters by the Gurdwara Election Fee are allowed to vote within the SGPC elections. Registered voters embody Sikh women and men who’re keshdharis (those that haven’t shorn hair), however might or will not be amritdharis (baptised Sikhs). The registered voters also needs to not be people who smoke or take alcoholic drinks.
The final SGPC election passed off in 2011. Again then, 57 lakh voters have been registered out of which 60 per cent forged their ballots. The SAD received 157 of the 170 seats.
Though a lot of the main political events area their candidates, the SAD just about holds an unbroken management over the SGPC for the previous few a long time. The SAD’s historical past is as previous as that of the SGPC, and the social gathering was created because the SGPC’s process pressure in 1920.
The Akalis face extreme criticism from their political opponents for having a vice-like grip over the SGPC working utilizing Sikh establishments in furthering their political pursuits.
Sehajdhari Sikh controversy
Sehajdhari Sikhs — who might or might not use any of the 5 Ks of the Sikhs: kesh (unshorn hair and beard), kanga (comb), kara (iron bracelet), kachhera (undergarment) and kirpan (sword) — will not be allowed to vote following in modification to the Sikh Gurdwara Act in 2016.
An modification to the Act in 1944 allowed Sehajdhari Sikhs to vote within the SGPC elections, however a 2003 notification of the Punjab authorities took away this proper.
Because the Sehajdhari Sikhs weren’t allowed to vote in 2011, the Sehajdhari Sikh Federation approached the Punjab and Haryana Excessive Court docket difficult the 2003 notification.
Even because the SGPC challenged to the Excessive Court docket choice within the Supreme Court docket, Parliament went head with the modification to the Act in 2016 that lastly ended the controversy relating to the Sehajdharis’ rivalry to be part of the SGPC election course of.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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