Capt Amarinder hails HC verdict on Sehajdharis SGPC voting rights
Wednesday, 21/12/2011
http://my.amarindersingh.in/capt-amarinder-hails-hc-verdict-on-sehajdharis-sgpc-voting-rights
CHANDIGARH, December 20: Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Capt Amarinder Singh today welcomed the High Court verdict on the voting rights of the Sehajdhari Sikhs setting aside the government of India notification of October 2003 debarring them from casting their votes in the elections to the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhik Committee (SGPC).
Capt Amarinder maintained that it vindicated his stand that the Sehajdhari Sikhs had due right to vote in the SGPC elections as they very much belonged to the Sikh religion but had been denied the same in an arbitrary manner by the Akali Dal led by Mr Parkash Singh Badal.
He said, the then Bhartiya Janata Party led National Democratic Alliance government at the centre, of which the Shiromani Akali Dal was a constituent party, had got the arbitrary notification issued in 2003, at the behest of Mr Badal, to keep away more than half of the Sikh voters from casting their votes in the SGPC elections.
The PCC President said, Mr Badal using his relationship with the BJP leadership at the centre deliberately wanted to circumvent the process with an obvious intent of maintaining control over the SGPC and the subsequent control over the SGPC funds. He said, today’s HC judgment will go a long way in preventing the misuse of political power that led to denial of voting rights to about 65 lakh Sehajdhari and others Sikhs.
