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Sadh Sangat Slate registers huge
win
Sikh Youth of America displaces incumbent group at Gurdwara Sahib
Yuba City after 20 years
It is victory of the Sangat and not of any group say Dosanjh,
Johal and Grewal
WSN Bureau
YUBA CITY: In a
development which will have far reaching consequences to the Sikh
religio-political domain in the Sikh Diaspora in the
United States,
the Sikh Youth of America defeated the Panthic Sangat Slate of
famous Sikh leader, Didar Singh Bains by a huge margin in the
Gurdwara Yuba City elections after a long gap of 20 years. Out of
the 73 directorship of the Gurdwara Committee, the Sadh Sangat Slate
has secured 64 seats whereas the incumbent group could muster a
meager 9 seats. This has brought to an end the 20 year old run of
the group entrenched in the Gurdwara committee.
Though Didar
Singh Bains himself was not contesting the elections, his close
relatives and senior leaders of his group were in the fray. His two
sons –Ajit Singh Bains and Karmdeep Singh Bains won the elections
but his right hand man Gurnam Singh Pamma was defeated and that two
by a margin of one vote from his son Sukhraj Singh.
The number of
votes secured by Sukhraj Singh (1181) and those by Karamdeep Singh
Bains (1251) are an indicator of the ire of the Sangat against the
group of Didar Singh Bains.
The elections to
the Gurdwara Committee were held on 6th and 7th
September under court orders. The Sangat was quiet pleased that the
elections were conducted in a smooth manner and that there was a
change of guard without any untoward incident.
Heretofore,
elections to the Gurdwara Committee have not been held in a
transparent manner and this has caused untold agony in the mind of
the people. Tejinder Singh Dosanjh, Harbhajan Singh Johal and
Parminder Singh Grewal, who spearheaded the reform process, in a
statement issued here, thanked the Sangat for the monumental victory
and further said that it was a victory of the Sangat and not of any
particular group.
It is pertinent
to mention that on
17 July 2006,
the management committee had foisted a court case against the three
leaders and in response to the allegations; they had sought fresh
elections to the Gurdwara Committee which were ordered by the judge
on the recommendations of Retd Judge Al Cario. According to the
agreement, the elections were to be conducted by Tanny and Co. and
new memberships and nominations were to be received. By the last
date of nomination, 1 July 2008, as many as 4300 memberships were
received and 134 candidates filed their nominations for the
directorships. Each member was to cast 73 votes as per the
arrangement.
In a healthy
development, the victorious team appealed to all their supporters
and members of the Sangat, not to raise fissiparous slogans and work
in a spirit of cooperation and not confrontation.
10 September 2008
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