Around 57 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the election to the 14th Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee (SGPC) that will be held on Sunday in three states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh.
Elaborate security arrangements have been made for peaceful conduct of the elections. Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee is considered mini Parliament of Sikhs, and polling stations spread across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
Punjab has the largest number of voters and polling booths, followed by Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and then Chandigarh. Out of the 170 booths spread over 120 constituencies (some have double seats), 157 are in Punjab, 11 in Haryana and 1 each in HP and Chandigarh.
The SGPC General House comprises of 170 elected members and 15 nominated members. Five priests of as many Takhats – Akal Takht (Amritsar), Keshgarh Sahab (Anandpur Sahab), Damdama Sahab (Talwandi Sabo), Patna Sahab (Patna) and Hazoor Sahab (Nanded, Maharashtra) and the Head Priest of the Golden Temple are its ex-officio members.
From Punjab the stalwarts who are in the fray include SGPC president Avtar Singh (Ludhiana West), SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur (Bholath), Education Minister Sewa Singh Sekwan,Amarjit Singh Chawla (Anandpur Sahib), Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah, former ministers Gobind Singh Longowal (Longowal) Rajinder Singh Mehta (Amritsar Central), Tota Singh (Moga), Kiranjit Kaur (Amritsar),and Randhir Singh Cheema (Bassi Pathana), Simranjit Singh Mann and his son Eman Singh Mann,Kewal Singh , Jagjit Singh Talwandi , among others.
Punjab would see the election of 157 members, Haryana 11 and one each from Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh. The 170 members include 30 women.
The number of voters in Punjab is 53.25 lakh, 3.75 lakh in Haryana, 23, 000 in Himachal Pradesh and 12,000 in Chandigarh.
A Gurdwara Election Commission spokesman said 19 senior officers from Haryana have been appointed as observers in Punjab to ensure free and fair polling.
Seven senior officers from Punjab have been appointed as observers in Haryana while one observer each has been appointed in Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh.
The Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the authorities concerned in Punjab to ensure free and fair SGPC elections and that adequate police force be deployed at all the polling booths, particularly sensitive polling stations for maintaining law and order.
The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justices Permod Kohli and Ritu Bahri on writ petitions filed by Inderjit Singh and others who had sought directions for deployment of CRPF and videography at all polling booths during the SGPC elections.
The Supreme Court had on Friday cleared the decks for the SGPC elections slated for September 18.
A bench of Justices J M Panchal and H L Gokhale,however, ruled that the results of the elections would be subject to the final outcome of the case pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court vis-a-vis denial of voting rights to Sehajdhari Sikhs.
The bench further said the high court will dispose off within one month the case relating to the voting rights of the Sehajdhari sect. The Sehajdhari Sikh Federation had challenged the September 6 verdict of the Punjab and Haryana High Court suspending its September 1 order that had granted the Sehajdhari the right to vote in the SGPC election.
News Source: SmayLive
