Gobind Singh Longowal re-elected as SGPC chief

Gobind Singh Longowal was re-elected as president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) during its annual general house meeting here on Wednesday. He will head the apex gurdwara body for the third time in a row after being elected as its chief for the first time in November 2017.

Longowal was re-elected unanimously after his name was proposed by former SGPC chief Jagir Kaur during the general house meeting at the Teja Singh Samudari Hall in the Committee premises. Longowal becomes the 44th chief of the SGPC, which is considered as mini Parliament of Sikh religious affairs.

He was a legislator in 1985, 1997, 2002 and 2015 and became an SGPC member in 2011. Talking to reporters, Longowal said, "I am thankful to Waheguru (Almighty) for giving me another chance to serve this religious body. I am also thankful to SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal and the party which trusted me. I will work hard for the Sikh community and will always be available for it".

The re-election of Longowal came a day after SGPC members owing allegiance to the SAD reportedly gave all the rights to Sukhbir Badal for deciding the names of the president, office bearers and the executive body. Sukhbir Badal had on Tuesday evening held a closed door meeting with the Committee's sitting office-bearers, members and party MLAs with regard to the election of the SGPC chief.

He had also met the SGPC members in the last two days to get the feedback on deciding the names. There are a total of 191 members of the SGPC general house. Of which, 170 are elected members, besides five Jathedars of five Takhts (Sikh temporal seats), a head priest of the Golden Temple and 15 nominated ones.

Of them, only 185 members have voting rights in the elections of the SGPC president. The last general elections of the SGPC were held in 2011 in which 170 members were elected.

During the meeting, Rajinder Singh Mehta was elected as senior vice-president, Gurbaksh Singh Nawashehar as junior vice-president and Harjinder Singh Dhami became the general secretary of the SGPC. Besides, 11 executive members of the body who were also elected are Bhupinder Singh Asand, Jagsir Singh, Harpal Singh Gora, Sher Singh Mandwala, Parmjit Khera, Jasmer Singh, Amarjit Singh Bhlaipur, Surjit Singh Kang, Indermohan Singh, Mukhwinder Singh and Bibi Kuldeep Kaur Tohra.

Meanwhile, 10 members, including Balwinder Singh Bains, Mahinder Singh Hussainpur, Sukhdev Singh Bhaur, Amrik Singh Shahpur and Sarwan Singh, walked out of the meeting to register their protest on the handling of the 2015 sacrilege incidents in the state.