SGPC polls: Akali Dal demands extension for registration of voters

Chandigarh, Jan 23 (IANS) A Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) delegation on Thursday met Gurudwara Elections Chief Commissioner Justice (Retd) S.S. Saron and requested him to extend the process for registration of voters for the Shiromani committee elections to March 31, besides weeding out all bogus votes.

The SAD delegation, led by working President Balwinder Singh Bhundar, former President Sukhbir Badal and SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, presented the memorandum to Justice Saron.

Sukhbir Badal informed Justice Saron that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had directed booth-level officers to register votes en mass from voter lists due to which thousands of non-Sikhs had been given the voting right for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak (SGPC) elections.

He said besides this, names of genuine voters were being deleted even as bogus votes were being added as part of the "conspiracy to take over control of the SGPC by hook or by crook".

Badal urged the Chief Commissioner to issue directions for reviewing all voter lists so that bogus could be deleted.

He also appealed to the Chief Commissioner to extend the time for making new votes, saying several eligible voters had still been left out of the election process.

Badal also gave the example of Himachal Pradesh where the voter list has not been made till now.

Later, while briefing newspersons about the memorandum, Daljit Singh Cheema said SAD stood for registration of genuine voters but it was condemnable that the AAP government was "coming in the way" of this exercise.

He said the situation was such that thousands of non-Sikhs who had not applied to be registered as voters for the elections had been given this right.

He said the delegation had also apprised the Chief Commissioner about the Sikh "rehat maryada" under which it was compulsory to suffix Singh or Kaur with Sikh names. "We have submitted voter lists to the commission in which the names of voters are in contravention to the Sikh rehat maryada," Cheema said.

SAD working President Bhundar said the delegation had also requested Justice Saron to ensure that rules governing the registration of voters were adhered to.