How do SGPC elections work? Why have they not been held in 13 years?

23
October
2024

Elections for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex governing body of all Sikh gurdwaras in Panjab, Himachal Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, are mandated every five years, yet none have been held since 2011. Established on 15 Nov 1920 to replace the influential mahants (managers of Gurdwaras, antithetical to Sikhi) who mismanaged Gurdwaras, the SGPC was legally recognized as a democratic body by the Gurdwaras Act of 1925. The committee comprises 170 elected members, 15 nominated members, 5 heads of the Takhts (seats of justice), and the head granthi (custodians of the Guru Granth Sahib) of Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple). SGPC elections are overseen by the Gurdwara Election Commission, currently chaired by Justice S S Saron (retired), appointed by the Union Home Ministry. Voters, totaling over 5 million since last October, must be Sikhs aged 21 and above, maintaining unshorn hair and abstaining from alcohol, halal meat, and tobacco. These eligibility criteria ensure that only devout Sikhs participate in the governance of their religious institutions. Despite the SAD maintaining a majority since their 2011 victory, they have lost two Panjab Assembly elections in the same period, and scored poorly in three general elections. The delay in holding elections stems from legal challenges initiated in December 2011 when the Punjab and Haryana High Court nullified the 2011 polls, restoring voting rights to Sehajdhari Sikhs (Sikhs with hair shorn) and delaying subsequent elections until the Supreme Court reinstated the original SGPC house in 2016. The last five-year term concluded in 2021. 

Photo by the Financial World

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