Sehajdharis Seek Voting Rights from BJP, SGPC Electoral Roll Declines by 50% Since 2011

The Sehajdhari Sikh Party (SSP) which seeks restoration of Sehajdhari votes in the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections has now taken up the issue with the BJP’s high command. Historically, Sahajdharis were non-initated Sikhs who kept or cut hair; since electoral or representative politics of the early 20th century, it means Sikhs who do not keep hair. They are approximately 10M or 1/3 of the global Sikh community; some local committees allow them to vote in Gurdwara elections, but larger ones in India don’t. Women are not factored in this count. In 2009, SGPC claimed a woman who plucked her eyebrows is not a ‘true Sikh,’ and won the legal battle. Addressing the media on 29 Mar in Jalandhar, Paramjeet Singh Ranu, SSP president, said: ‘To keep control of the Gurdwaras, the Akalis had pressured the BJP-led NDA govt. to deny us voting rights. We will not support them until they promise us our rights…The BJP has accepted that injustice had been done to us, and if the Narendra Modi govt. returns, Sehajdharis will get voting rights in the SGPC.’ The issue has been ongoing since the 2016 elections, which courts kept in abeyance until the Sehajdhari vote issue was resolved. Meanwhile, despite the Gurdwara Election Commission twice extending the last date for voter registration to 30 Apr, the total number of registered voters till 4 Apr was 2.74M. When SGPC elections were last held in 2011, there were over 5.2M voters from Panjab. Data shows about 1.5M voters are women. Every Sikh adult in Panjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh with unshorn hair is eligible to vote. The SGPC comprises 191 members: 170 elected, 15 nominated, 5 Jathedars of 5 Takhts (heads of seats of justice), 1 Head Granthi (chief reciter of the Guru Granth Sahib) of Darbar Sahib (Golden Temple), including 30 reserved for women.