Amritsar: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) House on Monday elected Shiromani Akali Dal candidate Harjinder Singh Dhami as its president for a fourth consecutive term.
He defeated former president Bibi Jagir Kaur to retain the top post in the leading Sikh body.
Dhami got 107 votes while Jagir Kaur polled only 33 votes, while two votes were cancelled. As many as 142 SGPC members voted in the annual presidential election on Wednesday.
Members Of SGPC
The last SGPC House was elected in 2011, and since then over 31 members have passed away while 4 members have resigned. Apart from this, two members have been found ineligible. So, the total number of votes is 148.
The body has 191 members, including the Jathedar of the Five Takhts, the Head Granthi of Darbar Sahib Amritsar, 15 nominated members, and 170 elected members.
About 30 seats are reserved for women. These are double seats, i.e., one woman member and the other can be any proven Sikh member.
More About Harjinder Dhami
Dhami was born in 1956 and studied BA LLB. He has been practising law and became famous as he voluntarily defended Sikh militants for the last 40 years.
Dhami has been a member of the SGPC since 1996. In this term, he is faced with the challenge of handling the controversy following the impending Akal Takht decisions. There have been claims that the Shriromani Akali Dal-Badal was using the SGPC to influence Akal Takht's decision.
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