The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) may have feared the re-election of its member Harjinder Singh Dhami as the president of Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), but the battle was fought by its sacked leader BB Jagir Kaur and the division of votes. Could sound alarm bells for the party.
While Dhami got 104 votes, Bibi Jagir Kaur got 42 votes. Of the 157 voting members, 146 had voted to participate in the election process of the SGPC, the mini-parliament of the Sikhs, at the Teja Singh Samundari Hall in the Golden Temple Complex, Amritsar.
Baldev Singh Kaimpuri was unanimously elected Senior Vice President as no one contested against him.
Rebel candidate Jagir Kaur may have got 42 votes, but it was an unprecedented number, as it was the first time a candidate was contesting against the mandate of the SAD leadership. In the past, candidates opposed by Badal have not got more than 20 votes.
The number of votes for Kaur does not bode well for the leadership of Sukhbir Badal as the SGPC affairs have been dominated by the SAD till now. Before the election, the party had to face rebellion not only from Jagir Kaur but also from other leaders. Some members had openly expressed their support in favor of the former SGPC president.
However, SAD president Sukhbir Badal tried to quell the differences. He described Dhami’s victory as a lesson for the rebels and conspirators in the internal affairs of the Sikh community. “I thank Akal Purakh, Khalsa Panth and SGPC members for reposing their faith in Shiromani Akali Dal and reprimanding the anti-Sikh conspirators and their goons,” he tweeted.
The SGPC election was a high-decibel event this time around when Bibi announced her candidacy for the post on her own. The party president and other leaders termed it as indiscipline and asked to withdraw in favor of the official candidate of the party. He refused and was later dismissed from the party. Sukhbir and other leaders also claimed that the party and Sikhs were trying to break unity with the Bharatiya Janata Party by helping Sikh leader Jagir Kaur.
The SAD leadership is facing rebellion from some of its leaders after its defeat in the state assembly elections earlier this year. Leaders like the party’s legislature party chief Manpreet Singh Ayali and senior vice-president Jagmeet Singh Brar have been demanding a change in leadership.
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