Amritsar, Aug 11
Akal Takht's former acting Jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh was on Monday unanimously elected as President of the Shiromani Akali Dal breakaway faction, while Bibi Satwant Kaur was elected as Chairperson of the party’s religious wing at an election conducted by the Akal Takht-constituted five-member committee in this Punjab holy city.
The participants in the election were rivals of the Akali Dal, which is led by Sukhbir Badal, son of late Parkash Singh Badal.
Both claimed to be the original Akali Dal that came into being on December 14, 1920, to free gurdwaras from the control of ‘mahants’.
The election of the party was conducted following last year’s edict by the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs that tasked the five-member committee to hold a membership drive for the party and subsequently hold the organisational elections.
The rivals accused Sukhbir Badal of ignoring last year’s ‘hukamnama' (edict) from the Akal Takht, which called for fresh membership and unity across Akali Dal factions.
The Sikh high priests, then led by Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh, had directed a reorganisation of the Akali Dal and formed a seven-member committee, led by then SGPC President Harjinder Dhami, to enrol new members.