Six groups vie for the rights to be custodians of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee in the general house elections, slated to be on 22 August, after being delayed for a couple of months due to Covid19 pandemic conditions in Delhi. Sikh voter turnout has always been a concern in these elections, though this time, advocacy groups, leading personalities and social media activists are exhorting the Sikh Sangat to exercise their franchise, reports WSN Delhi Desk’s Gurmeet Singh.

The electoral contest between Shiromani Akali Dal (Delhi State) Badal, Shiromani Akali Dal Delhi (Sarna), JAGO Party, Panthak Sewa Dal, Sikh Sadbhavna Dal and the Panthic Akali Lehar for 46 constituencies across Delhi has seen some hectic activity in the last week, with candidates and their supporters moving from house to house to garner support.

With parties and candidates focusing on social media campaigning, with no charm among Sangat except among group cadres, it will be interesting to see how many Sikhs take serious interest in the poll process. The poll day being Sunday 22 August, which is also the Raksha Bandhan festival day, adds to fears of a low percentage.

3.45 lakh voters will vote in 46 wards for 312 candidates,180 of which represent the six groups and 132 are independent. This will be the first time when photo-based voter lists will be used to identify voters at polling booths, in order to stop bogus voting, which was in thousands in the last elections in 2017.

In the 2017 General Elections, 46 percent of the 383,561 registered voters, which was only 30.70 percent of the adult Sikh population of Delhi as per 2011 Census, exercised their franchise. The winning party barely garnered 16 per cent votes.

The major parties, rallying on their cadres and fixed votes have not done enough to motivate people to come out to vote and don’t seem to be bothered to work at the micro-level. Poll observers in various wards speculate a very low winning margin.

Knocking on the knuckles of Sikh voters, actor-activist Manmeet Singh, in his popular style on Facebook, has emphasized that today a majority of social work revolves around the Gurdwara committees, Delhi Sikhs voice their concerns about wrongful acts and corruption but do not vote. He has fervently appealed to the Delhi Sikh voter to vote, though he has not taken any sides for a group of a candidate. In his succinct and touching post, with his ubiquitous smile, he has also appealed to candidates who will win to work as per the Sikh way of sewa and to take care of Sikh institutions.

Setting a new trend, renowned Kirtaniya Bhai Manpreet Singh Kanpuri, while addressing the Sikh Sangat in a Delhi Gurdwara said, ” You are all well educated and learned, then why should you not vote?”

“90% of people who do not consume alcohol do not vote, thereby losing the right to say that Sikhism is not moving in the right direction,” he added.

“If we elect a person who does act as per Sikh ethics, then the onus is on us.”

He called upon the younger generation, saying, while we are very choosy about our petty pecuniary needs, we shy away from choosing our representatives. Every single voter should vote.

Leading industrialist Iqbal Singh Anand has appealed to Sikhs to come out in large numbers to vote.

Similarly, the Sikh Forum of Delhi and The Sikh Collective have appealed to the Delhi Sikh Sangat to vote. World Sikh News and other media groups have carried on social media campaigns, appealing to all sections of the community to be aware of their rights and to vote for responsible candidates.

Significantly, after a long time, this DSGMC election will see minimal interference and intervention by Punjab-based party supporters of respective groups.

The current voter count is around 345,000. Let’s see how many devote their time, especially on a festival day and how many will continue to pay lip service and cry wolf.