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India SAD (Badal) Sweeps Gurdwara Management Committee Elections

Jan 6, 2005
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Metro-Vancouver, B.C., Canada
SAD (Badal) sweeps Gurdwara Management Committee elections

PTI - Jan 30, 2013, 09.35 PM IST



NEW DELHI:
After a gap of ten years, ShiromaniAkaliDal (Badal) has wrested back control of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC), defeating the ruling Congress-backed dispensation.

SAD (Badal), supported by BJP, bagged 37 out of 46 seats while Congress-backed Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi) claimed eight seats against its current strength of 27 seats.

While one seat went to Kendriya Sri Guru Singh Sabha (KSGSS), Dashmesh Seva Society (DSS) failed to open its account in the election.

SAD (Delhi) chief Paramjit Singh Sarna lost by the highest margin of votes to SAD (Badal)'s Manjinder Singh from Punjabi Bagh.

"While Sarna polled 4,552 votes, 9,006 votes went to Singh, the difference being 4,454 votes," said G P Singh, director of the directorate of gurdwara elections.

Congress downplayed the result of the polls, claiming the outcome will not have any bearing on Delhi assembly polls. Sikhs have a sizable presence in Delhi.

"Congress has nothing to do with the result of the DSGMC. It is a religious body of Sikh community and our party was not directly involved in the contest. That is why the party even did not stop MLA Tarvinder Singh Marwah from contesting the polls," chief minister Sheila Dikshit's parliamentary secretary Mukesh Sharma said.

BJP described the result as a "personal defeat for Dikshit and Minister In-charge of Gurudwara Affairs Arvinder Singh Lovely."

"The downfall of Congress had started in the municipal corporation polls last year. Now, with the defeat of the Congress-backed group in Gurudwara polls, the party must realise what's in store for it in the assembly polls," Delhi BJP chief Vijender Gupta said.

source:
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/...-Committee-elections/articleshow/18260319.cms
 

Chaan Pardesi

Writer
SPNer
Oct 4, 2008
428
772
London & Kuala Lumpur
The hindunization through the Akali Dal of the punjab will now extend to Delhi.Not to mention all the corrupted policies and actions currently in the Punjab will influence the activities of the sikhs in Delhi; and soon sikhs in Delhi will a beating as they follow the orders of the masters from Punjab, who are always out of touch with Delhi politics and Sikhs.Another sad chapter.One of the first we may see further clashes involving sikhs in Delhi!
 
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spnadmin

1947-2014 (Archived)
SPNer
Jun 17, 2004
14,500
19,219
I would like to throw out a few questions.

Was this election really about Sarna and Badal, or really about Congress versus BJP?

Are the Sarnas and Badal proxies for their respective party affiliations?

The voter turnout was extremely low. Did that have an effect on the outcome? If you think it did, how did that work?

Why was the turnout low?

Were issues related to Sikhi, such as gurdwara control, control of educational institutions, the Sikh maryada and open alliances with saffronista factions (babas, sects, and so forth) the real issues?

Or were Sikh issues sadly the religious footballs in this dispute?

Who stayed home and did not vote?

My personal assessment: SAD has ties to BJP. I believe that there are a fair number of Sikhs in the Delhi/Punjab region who would never vote for anyone associated with the Congress Party, even if Badal were filmed dining on the organs of his closest relatives. For those Sikhs, matters of significance to the panth are small sacrifices if there is a choice to vote against the party of Indira. Nothing else is quite that important. A low turnout can only increase the impact of this sentiment. As long as the conduct of religion is ultimately controlled by the government, political affiliation will always trump Sikhi.

Two more questions. What did the Sarnas do wrong? Where were their supporters?
 
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