CHANDIGARH: The election to the general house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is likely to be delayed by more than a year despite the directive from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
The high court had directed the government to hold the election within one year and that period expires in February, 1995. The high court had passed the orders on a writ petition filed by the SGPC president, Gurcharan Singh Tohra.
Under the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, the general house is elected for a period of five years but continues till the next general election. The present house was elected in 1979 and the election is over due since 1984. Various factions of the Akalis have been demanding early election to the general house of the SGPC, though for different reasons.
Harbans Singh said last week, that it might take more than one year to hold this election as the procedure is long. The voters’ lists are to be revised and the procedure in this case is different and time consuming. The revision of electoral rolls itself would take more than six months. The voters lists are to be published and then objections are to be invited before the publication of the final rolls.
According to Harbans Singh, it took one year and two months to complete the process for the March, 1979 election. The government would have to approach the high court in the wake of its failure to hold the election.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 13, 1995
