A delegation headed by the president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) met with Justice (retired) S S Saron, chief commissioner for gurdwara elections, on Saturday. The delegation’s demands included streamlining the voter registration process for the SGPC general elections.
Additionally, the seven-member delegation asked for an extension of the voter registration period.
According to SGPC President Harjinder Singh Dhami, Saron met with representatives to discuss the challenges Sikhs encounter during the voter registration process.
Dhami stated in a statement that he was informed that a prospective voter must affix a photocopy of their identity card to their voter form.
“Many villages do not have the facility of photostat. Apart from this, each person is being asked to personally visit and submit the form to register as an SGPC voter, which is a difficult task for working residents,” he said.
In order to streamline the procedure, the delegation asked the chief commissioner to grant permission to simply write the voter ID number or Aadhaar on the form, rather than including a photocopy of the identity document and allowing the voter forms to be submitted in large quantities.
Dhami added that there was a request to extend the deadline for voter registration, citing the extremely short window of time between October 21 and November 15.
Additionally, it was demanded that in order to register SGPC voters, special camps be set up at the booth level. According to him, demands have been made to guarantee that the biggest number of Sikhs register to vote. The SGPC is the Sikh community’s representative body.