Akali Dal alleges registration of bogus voters for SGPC election

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday (January 23, 2025) alleged that “bogus voters” had been registered for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) election as several non-Sikhs had been given voting rights.

Demanding to extend the process for registration of voters for the election to March 31, besides weeding out all bogus voters, a delegation of the SAD met Gurdwara elections chief commissioner Justice (retd.) S.S. Saron here.

The SGPC is a statutory body established under the Sikh Gurdwara Act of 1925, which controls and manages Sikh gurdwaras in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. The SGPC, which is also referred to as the “mini-Parliament of Sikhs”, is directly elected by Sikhs who are registered as voters under the provisions of the Sikh Gurdwaras Act. The SGPC polls are supposed to be held every five years by the Gurdwara Election Commission, and its date is expected to be declared once the poll process is over. The last SGPC elections were held in 2011.

SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhundar, former president Sukhbir Singh Badal and SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami said they presented a memorandum to the chief commissioner surrounding their demands. “We informed Justice (retd.) Saron that the State government had directed booth-level officers to register votes en mass from voter lists due to which thousands of non-Sikhs had been given the voting right for the SGPC elections. Genuine votes were being deleted even as bogus voters were being added as part of the conspiracy to take control of the SGPC by hook or by crook,” Mr. Badal said.

“We urged the chief commissioner to issue directions for the review of all voter lists so that bogus voters could be weeded out. Also, we appealed for extending the time period for making new votes, saying a large number of eligible voters had still been left out from the election process,” he added.

Mr. Bhundar said the delegation had also requested the Gurdwara Elections Commission to direct the State government to ensure that rules governing registration of voters were adhered to strictly.