With the Lieu­tenant Gov­er­nor of Delhi Anil Bai­jal hav­ing cleared the decks for hold­ing DS­GMC elec­tions and the Di­rec­torate of Gur­d­wara Elec­tions hav­ing to­day briefed the po­lice and mu­nic­i­pal cor­po­ra­tion staff re­gard­ing pre­pared­ness for the polls, it is a mat­ter of time when no­ti­fi­ca­tion will be is­sued for hold­ing elec­tions on 22 Au­gust as sub­mit­ted by the Delhi gov­ern­ment in an un­der­tak­ing to the Delhi High Court. WSN re­ports.

WITH LEAD­ERS OF ALL GROUPS CON­TEST­ING THE DS­GMC elec­tions main­tain­ing a low-key and with none of the par­tic­i­pat­ing groups ob­ject­ing to the elec­tion date of 22 Au­gust, which hap­pens to be the fes­ti­val day of Rakhsha Band­han, there is a like­li­hood of a step up in ac­tiv­ity dur­ing the next two weeks as the Delhi gov­ern­ment has started tak­ing all steps of co­or­di­nat­ing with Mu­nic­i­pal Cor­po­ra­tion of Delhi, New Delhi Mu­nic­i­pal Cor­po­ra­tion and Delhi Po­lice to con­duct the elec­tions.

The Delhi ad­min­is­tra­tion will have to deal with law and or­der, mak­ing arrange­ments for the polls, over­see im­ple­men­ta­tion of the Model code of con­duct and Covid19 com­pli­ant be­hav­iour.

22 Au­gust is a Sun­day and the fes­ti­val of Rakhsha Band­han which sees a lot of move­ment of fam­i­lies prior to and on the day to tie the broth­er­hood band of Rakhi by sis­ters on the wrists of their broth­ers.  Sources in the Delhi gov­ern­ment say that the only logic for hold­ing it on that day is that it hap­pens to be a Sun­day and the only Sun­day prior to the last day of 29 Au­gust. 

“The AAP party is prepar­ing to fight the Badal Dal in Pun­jab, but in Delhi seems to be do­ing every­thing to sup­port the Badal Dal in the DS­GMC elec­tion through acts of omis­sion and com­mis­sion.” 

The no­ti­fi­ca­tion for elec­tions to the con­stituency Khureji Khas, where a con­test­ing can­di­date passed away due to Covid19 has al­ready been is­sued for 22 Au­gust. 

The term of the pre­sent house of the DS­GMC comes to an end on 29 Au­gust and there­fore the Di­rec­torate is man­dated to hold the elec­tions by 28 Au­gust. How­ever, the Di­rec­torate can ex­tend the term as re­quired un­der the pro­vi­sions of the Delhi Sikh Gur­d­wara Act, 1971. 

The to­tal voter turnout dur­ing the last elec­tions in 2017 was abysmally low and with a good sec­tion of the Sikh com­mu­nity cel­e­brat­ing this so­cial fes­ti­val, it is feared that this time around peo­ple com­ing out to vote will be far less than last time. Sikh cir­cles in Delhi are un­able to un­der­stand the logic of hold­ing elec­tions on a fes­ti­val day. Yet, none of the six groups par­tic­i­pat­ing in the polls has ob­jected to the elec­tions on that day nor have they sought ex­ten­sion by an­other week. 

Sikh cir­cles in Delhi are un­able to un­der­stand the logic of hold­ing elec­tions on a fes­ti­val day. Yet, none of the six groups par­tic­i­pat­ing in the polls has ob­jected to the elec­tions on that day nor have they sought ex­ten­sion by an­other week. 

The Badal Dal is milk­ing the time ex­ten­sion to the fullest by ini­ti­at­ing and fur­ther­ing pro­grammes and ac­tiv­i­ties, which are per­cep­tively vi­o­la­tions of the model code of con­duct, but apart from out­bursts in so­cial me­dia, there is not much le­gal ac­tiv­ity to chal­lenge them.  A po­lit­i­cal ob­server, keep­ing a tab on the DS­GMC elec­tion scene, on con­di­tion of anonymity said, “The AAP party is prepar­ing to fight the Badal Dal in Pun­jab, but in Delhi seems to be do­ing every­thing to sup­port the Badal Dal in the DS­GMC elec­tion through acts of omis­sion and com­mis­sion.” 

Though the cur­rent pos­i­tiv­ity rate in Delhi is far from dan­ger­ous, the men­tion­ing of Delhi Health Min­is­ter in an on­line meet with AS­SOCHAM -As­so­ci­ated Cham­bers of Com­merce and In­dus­try that the Delhi gov­ern­ment would not hes­i­tate to im­pose a lock­down should the pos­i­tiv­ity rate touch 5, raises a cause for con­cern for can­di­dates, who have so far re­stricted much of their cam­paign­ing to so­cial me­dia.  No Sikh can­di­date, no so­cial and re­li­gious wel­fare group has sought clar­i­fi­ca­tions from the Delhi Health Min­is­ter as to what could be the sce­nario on Rakhsha Band­han day.

The quag­mire of the Delhi Sikh re­li­gio-po­lit­i­cal scene des­per­ately seeks an end to the long-drawn DS­GMC elec­tion cri­sis.