CHANDIGARH: The number of Sikhs with unshorn hair (keshdhaari) who have registered for the upcoming elections of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the mini-Parliament of Sikhs, has dropped by almost 50 percent since the last elections in 2011. Only around 27.87 lakh voters have registered till July 25, while in the last elections, the number was 52 lakh.
Sources said that as per the data with the gurdwara commission, the highest number of voters registered was in Gurdaspur district at 3.22 lakh, followed by Ludhiana at 3.13 lakh and then Amritsar at 3.02 lakh. The lowest number of voters registered was in SBS Nagar at 25,090 and Pathankot at 26,023.
This is despite the Gurdwara Election Commission thrice extending the last date for registration of voters. The process of registration started last year on 21 October and the last date was 15 November. However, it was extended to 29 February, then extended to April 30 and finally the deadline was set as July 31.
The migration of Sikh youth abroad, disenchantment with SGPC, the flourishing dera culture and tedious process to get registered as a voter are among the reasons cited for this steep fall. Also, this time the Akali Dal hardly took interest in the registration unlike earlier when their workers used to facilitate the process.
Former Prof of Sikh Studies at Punjabi University at Patiala Dharam Singh said, "The youth have gone abroad, a separate SGPC was formed in Haryana and the SGPC could not properly preach the religion to the masses which led to people going to deras for moral and religious support."
SGPC member Kiranjot Kaur says that apart from the disenchantment with the SGPC and migration of Sikh youth abroad, the tedious process to get registered as a voter for the polls is a factor in the decline.
"The prospective voters do not know where to go to get themselves registered. Due to the delimitation, there was no clarity on the wards they belonged to and when they go to the camps, their applications are rejected due to discrepancies in wards. Also, everyone be it elders or women is supposed to go in person to complete the voter registration formalities with identity proof. There is no publicity about the camps held to register voters," she says.
The SGPC has 179 members as every Sikh in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh with unshorn hair is eligible to vote for the 159 elected members of the SGPC. Of these, 157 members are elected from Punjab and one each from Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh respectively. Other than the 159 elected members, 15 members are co-opted and another six members include the jathedars of the five holy takhts (setas of power) and the head granthi of the Golden Temple.
Till 2022, the total number of elected members was 160 which included 11 from Haryana. However, following orders of the Supreme Court, Haryana has formed its own SGPC. The elections to the SGPC are to be held every five years but due to extended litigation over multiple issues, elections have not been held since 2011.