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Bibi Jagir Kaur elected SGPC president again

Neena Chaudhary in Amritsar

Bibi Jagir Kaur was elected president of the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee for the second consecutive term yesterday. Out of the 177 votes polled, she bagged 126, while her opponent, Surjit Singh Cheema, managed just 49.

Bibi Jagir Kaur had created history on March 16 this year when she was elected chief of the apex organisation managing historic Sikh shrines in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Chandigarh. She was the first woman to be elected to the exalted post in the 75-years-old history of the SGPC. She replaced the 25-time president G S Tohra.

Before the meeting of the SGPC general house started today, about three dozen orphaned children of slain militants staged a noisy demonstration to protest the recent decision of the SGPC to terminate a grant to the Guru Asra Trust, which takes care of these children.

Police personnel in plain clothes, who were present in large numbers in the Golden Temple Complex, dispersed the agitating children. According to an estimate, it was the largest ever deployment of plain clothed police personnel inside the shrine complex.

As soon as the meeting began, the supporters of Bibi Jagir Kaur capitalising on the numbers in their favour, attempted to claim unanimity in her favour. This was opposed vehemently by former SGPC chief, G S Tohra and pro-hard-line leader, Simranjit Singh Mann, who demanded polling. After half an hour of complete pandemonium, it was decided to have an election through secret ballot.

The group owing allegiance to Tohra announced the name of Surjit Singh Cheema as their presidential candidate.

Apart from Bibi Jagir Kaur, Balbir Singh Pannu, Kewal Singh Badal and Hardalbir Singh Shah were retained as senior vice president, junior vice president and general secretary respectively of the SGPC for the second term. However, the Tohra group managed to get two and the Mann group one of their members elected to the 11-member executive committee.

In the 190-member house, the five high priests, including the Jathedar of the Akal Takhat, are ex-officio members and do not have voting rights. Of the 185 voting members, two have died. In today's meeting 177 members were present.

After the elections, through a voice vote, the SGPC house passed as many as 20 resolutions. These included homage for the martyrs of the Kargil conflict and an appeal to the people to participate wholeheartedly in making donations for the Orissa cyclone victims.

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