With Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate Harjinder Singh Dhami getting re-elected as president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) on Wednesday, SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal termed it as a “victory of the Panth (Sikh religion) over forces and rulers out to wreck Sikh quom (community) from within”.
“I thank Akal Purakh, Khalsa Panth and SGPC members for giving a resounding rebuff to anti Sikh conspirators and their stooges by reposing faith in Akali Dal and SGPC poll today,” he said.
“I also felicitate Adv Harjinder Singh Dhami Sahib and offer him my best wishes to continue to serve Guru Khalsa Panth with renewed devotion, commitment and humility. This is a victory of the Panth over forces and rulers out to wreck Sikh quom from within. I appeal to all members, who had been misled, to heed the signal of Guru Sahib and return to the sharan” of Khalsa Panth,” Badal said in a tweet.
Dhami polled 104 votes against former Akali leader Bibi Jagir Kaur who polled 42 votes. A three-time former president of the SGPC, Kaur was expelled from the SAD “anti-party activities”, including “becoming party to a conspiracy to break the SGPC”. She was expelled after she failed to appear in person before the disciplinary committee.
Baldev Singh Kaimpuri was unanimously elected senior vice-president as no one contested against him. Avtar Singh Fatehgarh was unanimously elected junior vice president. Gurcharan Singh Garewal was unanimously elected general secretary. Out of 157 members, 146 had turned up to participate in the election process of SGPC, the Mini Parliament of Sikhs -at Teja Singh Samundri Hall in Golden Temple complex today.
As per Gurdwara Act 1925, the SGPC body has to be revamped every year by electing its president, senior vice president, junior vice president, general secretary and 11-member executive body, unanimously during the general house or through voting, if necessary. At present, the house consisted of 157 members in addition to 15 co-opted members, five Takht Jathedars and Golden Temple head priest.