SGPC chief post: SAD names incumbent HS Dhami as nominee for Nov 9 election

The SAD's decision to announce its candidate is also a marked departure from the practice of declaring its nominee on the day of the poll.

Dhami thanked SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and the entire party leadership for announcing him the candidate for the SGPC post. (File Photo)

The SAD on Friday announced incumbent Harjinder Singh Dhami as its candidate for the SGPC president for which the election will take place on November 9. The Shiromani Akali Dal’s move came after former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur refused to back down from contesting the apex gurdwara body presidential poll.

The SAD’s decision to announce its candidate is also a marked departure from the practice of declaring its nominee on the day of the poll.

SAD senior leader Daljit Singh Cheema on Friday announced the party’s decision. “SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal after wider consultations with SGPC members & senior leaders of the party announced that Harjinder Singh Dhami will be SAD’s candidate for the post of President for the Nov 9 annual election of SGPC,” said Cheema in a tweet.

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Meanwhile, Dhami alleged that Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) were making “mischievous attempts” to take control of the SGPC, the representative organisation of Sikhs.

He said National Commission for Minorities Chairman Iqbal Singh Lalpura, working under the BJP’s policy of controlling the SGPC, is asking the members of Sikh body to vote against the Shiromani Akali Dal candidate in the upcoming annual election of Sikh body on November 9.

He alleged, “Big temptations are being given to buy votes of SGPC members by leaders who joined the BJP from different parties.” Dhami claimed several SGPC members have disclosed this fact to him.

He said the Congress party had been interfering in Sikh affairs for a long time and now, the BJP is also following the same path.

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Dhami thanked SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal and the entire party leadership for announcing him the candidate for the SGPC post.

He also appealed to Bibi Jagir Kaur that she is highly respectable and she should walk together to strengthen the Shiromani Akali Dal and SGPC as she did earlier.

Jagir Kaur, a former MLA, had remained SGPC chief in 1999, 2004 and 2020.

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