CHANDIGARH, Punjab—In an unexpected move on June 26, the SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal said that the general elections of SGPC, which takes care of the historic Sikh shrines situated in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, should be held as early as possible but all the legal procedure should also be completed before these elections.
He has said that the Centre government should immediately come into action to complete legal formalities like fixation of constituencies, registration of baptized Sikhs for voting etc.
Answering a query, Longowal said that a few months back the Punjab assembly had appealed the Centre for SGPC elections by passing a proposal, but neither Captain Amarinder Singh nor Advocate H.S Phoolka acted in reality in this concern rather they are going consistently silent on this issue.
“Phoolka initially showed interest and even gave statements, but nothing happened,” said Longowal while claiming that they don’t fear of SGPC elections.
Why the SGPC elections are getting delayed?
The SGPC elections can’t be held at present because the post of Chief Election Commissioner is lying vacant in the Gurdwara Election Commission. Even if the Indian government appoints the Chief Election Commissioner, it will still require a lot of time because of the following two reasons:
- The new Election Commissioner would have to wait for the Supreme Court’s decision about the legitimacy of Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhik Committee as the SGPC member from Kurkshetra had moved a petition challenging the legitimacy of HSGPC constituted by the Haryana government.
2. As the BJP led Union government of India had abolished the voting right of Sehajdharis in SGPC elections, so the Gurdwara Election Commission will have to prepare voter lists of Gursikh voters in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, which is a long process.
On August 2 last year, the Indian Home Ministry had appointed Justice (Retd.) Darshan Singh as Chief Election Commissioner of the Gurdwara Election Commission and had directed him to begin work for SGPC elections in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. Later, Justice Darshan Singh had refused to take the charge as he was appointed as the Chairman of Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) in Haryana.
