Elect your Akali. The forthcoming elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabhandak Committee can safely be termed thus. Because, it's the three Akali factions "" Akali Dal (Badal), Akali Dal (Panthic) and Akali Dal (Amritsar) who are mainly in the fray.
The polls are scheduled to be held on October 13 for 170 seats. 15 members will be nominated to the SGPC house later.
The elections are significant because polls to the SGPC, known as the parliament of Sikhs, are being held after a gap of 17 years, mainly because of the disturbed conditions in Punjab.
The process of filing of nomination papers for the elections began yesterday and all the three Akali Dal factions have launched their campaigns.
As per the recent notification of the Union home ministry, out of the total 170 SGPC seats, 30 are reserved for women. The SGPC constituencies are spread over Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and the Union territory of Chandigarh. But a majority of the constituencies fall in Punjab.
The battle-lines have been clearly drawn. The main contest will be among the three rival Akali factions. Poll pundits predict the mainstream Akali Dal, led by the former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, will sweep the polls.
The popularity of Akali Dal (Badal) was clearly reflected during the last Lok Sabha elections. The party won 8 out of the total 13 seats in Punjab. The BSP, supported by the Akali Dal (Badal), won three Lok Sabha seats while the Congress could win only two seats.
Observers feel the coming SGPC elections will provide a kind of rehearsal for the Akalis to prepare for the Vidhan Sabha elections due in February next. According to observers, it is a matter of prestige for Badal to ensure the victory of his party in SGPC polls since he is being projected as the next Chief Minister of Punjab.
The BSP has now formed an alliance with the Akali Dal (Panthic) headed by Darshan Singh, former chief of the Akal Takht, the highest seat of spiritual and political authority of the Sikhs. But according to observers, the Akali Dal (Panthic) does not have a mass following in Punjab. Hence this faction of the Akali Dal will not be in a position to win many SGPC seats.
Akali Dal (Amritsar), headed by Simranjit Singh Mann, the controversial police officer turned politician, too, does not have any large following in Punjab. This Akali faction represents the militant Sikh view point and according to observers, will find it difficult to win many seats as by and large the Sikh masses now support the moderate line practiced by the Akali Dal (Badal).
The Congress is not participating in the SGPC elections for obvious reasons. The Congress leadership in Punjab understands that the party will face a clear rout in the SGPC polls as it has hardly any following among the Sikhs.
Punjab Chief Minister Harcharan Singh Brar has announced that the Congress will not participate in the SGPC elections because the Sikh body primarily deals with religious affairs of the Sikhs.
In the last SGPC elections, held in 1979, the Congress had indirectly participated "" by supporting candidates put up by slain militant Sikh leader Bhindranwale against the official Akali Dal candidates. But they all lost. And the Akali Dal won the elections hands down. Political pundits predict that the party will repeat its performance again next month after a gap of 17 years.
The BJP is also not contesting the SGPC elections directly but the right-wing Hindu party is sure to indirectly support the Akali Dal (Badal) since the two have already announced their alliance for the coming assembly polls. Observers feel the BJP will be in a strong position to influence a large number of Sehajdari votes - the non-Sikhs, who believe in the holy Guru Granth Sahib "" in favour of the Akali Dal (Badal).
