Re­spond­ing to a pe­ti­tion filed by Harmeet Singh Kalka, gen­eral sec­re­tary of the Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi State, which is the in­cum­bent party run­ning the Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Man­age­ment Com­mit­tee af­fairs, the Delhi gov­ern­ment has sub­mit­ted that elec­tions to the gen­eral house of the DS­GMC will be held on 22 Au­gust and re­sults de­clared on 25 Au­gust. With­out seek­ing a fur­ther ex­ten­sion, the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions, the gov­ern­ment of Delhi was duty-bound to hold the elec­tions be­fore the last date of ex­ten­sion of the pre­sent house on 29 Au­gust 2021. WSN Delhi Desk’s Gurmeet Singh re­ports.

Rid­ing high on a wave of Sewa ac­tiv­i­ties, though be­yond the scope of the DS­GMC, the Badal Dal -of­fi­cially Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi state, went to court for early con­duct of elec­tions with the hope that their ac­tiv­i­ties will give them the lever­age to beat the other par­ties in the DS­GMC elec­tions. This led to their sub­mis­sion in the court of Delhi High Court Chief Jus­tice D N Pa­tel and Jus­tice Jy­oti SIngh on 22 July seek­ing di­rec­tions to the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara elec­tions for resched­ul­ing the polls.

The term of the pre­sent house ex­pired in Feb­ru­ary 2021 and with the Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Act 1971, silent on the mat­ter, the di­rec­torate had to fur­nish a fresh date, notwith­stand­ing the ear­lier re­ported stand of Delhi CM Arvind Ke­jri­wal not to con­duct the elec­tions due to the Covid19 sit­u­a­tion. 

Af­ter a two month lull in ac­tiv­ity due to the se­vere Covid19 sec­ond wave, the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions is abuzz with ac­tiv­ity hop­ing that all will go well and the elec­tions will be held this time on the resched­uled date of 22 Au­gust 2021.

As the 22 Au­gust date co­in­cides with the Rak­sha Band­han fes­tiv­i­ties, the Delhi gov­ern­ment will be on its toes to im­pose the Covid19 pro­to­col of so­cial dis­tanc­ing and wear­ing of masks dur­ing the elec­tion­eer­ing and fes­tiv­ity pe­riod. 

Though the Delhi gov­ern­ment has sub­mit­ted the fresh date of the DS­GMC polls, the ac­tions of the gov­ern­ment in re­cent days do not show that the gov­ern­ment is happy with pub­lic be­hav­iour in han­dling the pan­demic. In the last two days, the Tilak Na­gar mar­ket in the heart of West Delhi, which sees thou­sands of foot­falls in one day, has been shut by the ad­min­is­tra­tion for five days. 

Party con­tes­tants and lead­ers elated at the an­nounce­ment will have to fol­low strict pro­to­cols for every­body’s wel­fare.  First-time can­di­dates of all par­ties in the race, hav­ing spent time and money on elec­tion­eer­ing have wel­comed the de­ci­sion and have be­gun so­cial me­dia cam­paigns and out­reach to the Sikh San­gat in their re­spec­tive con­stituen­cies. 

All the par­ties con­test­ing the DS­GMC polls have wel­comed the resched­uled date through video broad­casts and are go­ing all out to woo Delhi Sikh vot­ers. 

Harmeet Singh Kalka, Pres­i­dent of Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal ( Badal) Delhi State, and gen­eral sec­re­tary of the DS­GMC have urged the San­gat to par­tic­i­pate and give them an­other chance.

Shi­ro­mani Akali Dal Delhi leader Paramjit SIngh Sarna has wel­comed the de­ci­sion and con­grat­u­lated every­one in­volved and re­quested the Sikhs of Delhi to par­tic­i­pate whole­heart­edly in the elec­tions. He has also called upon the gov­ern­ment to strictly im­pose the Model Code of Con­duct.  

Man­jit Singh GK, leader of the Jago Party, wel­com­ing the de­ci­sion has said that his party was all set to fight the elec­tions and that the San­gat will choose the best can­di­dates.