Harjinder Singh Dhami elected SGPC chief

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 29

Harjinder Singh Dhami, honorary chief secretary of the Shiromani Gurdawara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), was elected its president for the next one year during the General House meeting held at Teja Singh Samundari Hall in the SGPC complex here today.

The 11-member executive

The 11-member executive includes Surjit Singh Kang, Sarwan Singh Klar, Surjit Singh Garhi, Jarnail Singh Dogranwala, Balwinder Singh Weipui, Harjap Singh Sultanwind, Gurdinderpal Singh Gora, Amarjit Singh Bandala, Bibi Gurpreet Kaur, Jodh Singh Samra and Gurpreet Singh.

A chaos-like situation disrupted the House proceedings for a while. In the absence of a unanimous consensus over the name of the president, general secretary and ‘adjusting’ two members in the 11-member executive, the voting process was adopted in which 142 members of the House participated. Dhami secured 122 votes against his opponent Mithu Singh Kahneke, a member of the SGPC from Mansa who polled just 19 votes. One vote was declared invalid. A year back, Kahneke had already resigned from the primary membership of the Shiromani Akali Dal due to his differences over Panthic and Punjab-related issues.

For the general secretary’s post, Karnail Singh Panjoli was declared elected after he polled 112 votes against his rival Gurpreet Singh, who got just 21 votes. Here also, one vote was cancelled. Meanwhile, several members left in the middle of the House proceedings.

Raghuvir Singh Virk and Principal Surinder Singh were elected unanimously as senior vice-president and junior vice-president, respectively. Advocate Dhami, a law graduate, has been an SGPC member from Hoshiarpur since 1996. He is known for his good administrative skills. Born on August 28, 1956, Dhami attained proficiency in religious and legal affairs. He also served as the SGPC general secretary during the 2019 tenure.

After paying obeisance at the Golden Temple and Akal Takht, Dhami said strengthening the SGPC’s campaign named as ‘Ghar Ghar Andar Dharamsaal’ to curb conversion of Sikhs would be his main priority, besides revamping the education and health services being provided by the Sikh body.

Soon after Dhami replaced Bibi Jagir Kaur, the SAD announced the latter as its candidate from the Bholath Assembly constituency.

Meanwhile, the SGPC has asked the Centre to abolish the requirement of passport for pilgrims visiting Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur through the dedicated corridor and simplify the process to gain access.