CHANDIGARH: The political parties and other organizations contesting the forthcoming elections to the house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee are unlikely to be allotted the poll symbols reserved with the Chief Election Commission. The Gurdwara Election Commissioner entrusted with the general election to this supreme statutory body of the Sikhs to manage the shrines, has written to the CEC seeking clarifications. Though a written reply is yet to be received, the Gurdwara Election Commission had earned that the elections symbols with the CEC might not be available for allotment in this election. This would include free symbols with the CEC. Going by this thinking, the Akali Dal (Baal) one of the main political parties in the SGPC poll arena would be denied its symbol of scales allotted to it by the CEC for contesting elections to the legislature.
Justice Harbans Singh (Retd), Chief Commissioner Gurdwara Elections, said he had sought information about the political patties other organizations interested in this poll to make the requisite number of election symbols available in that eventuality. With the poll slated for October 13, the Sikh political scene is hitting up. The Akali Dal (Badal) has already formally launched its poll campaign from Patiala. Other main Sikh political parties in the fray are Akali Dal (Amritsar) led by Simranjit Singh Mann and the Akali Dal (Panthic). The Bahujan Samaj Party is the otherwise only non-Sikh political party in the fray. According to the Sikh gurdwara Act, 1925, only a baptized Sikh can contest this election though there is no such bar on becoming a voter. As such, the BSP would have to put up only the Sikhs as candidates. The BSP candidates would not have the elephant to ride going by the CEC. Interestingly, all the major political parties have reforms in the gurdwara management as the major poll plank. The endeavor of Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Akali Dal (Panthic) is to expose the cupboards in the SGPC on the issue of corruption and it is not without reason that the outgoing SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra, who has been dominating this body for the last 20 years, is for the first time in the dock. Tohra is on the defensive and so is his party Akali Dal (Badal) on this issue.
Under the given situation, it is Akali Dal (Badal) president Parkash Singh Badal who is reaping the political advantage with Tohra, the towering personality in the Akali politics, under a cloud. According to the party sources, it is Badal who is going to have a major say in the distribution of tickets. He is using this election to take another plunge in the state politics to consolidate his position with an eye on the Vidhan Sabha elections due in Fe next.
Yet another significant aspect of this election is that the Akali Dal (Badal), which had donned the garb of a Punjabi party in the Lok Sabha elections, is projecting itself as a Panthic party. Of course, the Akali Dal (Badal) borrowed this concept of Punjab from the Longowal faction of Akalis which later merged into the Badal faction. This is being done to keep its support base mainly in the rural and semi urban areas intact.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 14, 1996
