Nirmal Singh is new head of Chief Khalsa Diwan
AMRITSAR: The Bhag Singh Ankhi group on Sunday made a near clean sweep in the Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) elections with Nirmal Singh becoming the new president, defeating the rival group led by Charanjit Singh Chadha, the controversial former head of the socio-religious Sikh organisation. The general election of the organisation is held every five years for the posts of president, two vice-presidents, a resident president and two honorary secretaries. Nirmal Singh defeated Sarabjit Singh, who represented the group backed by Chadha, by 33 votes. Nirmal got 176 votes.
AMRITSAR:The Bhag Singh Ankhi group on Sunday made a near clean sweep in the Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) elections with Nirmal Singh becoming the new president, defeating the rival group led by Charanjit Singh Chadha, the controversial former head of the socio-religious Sikh organisation.
The general election of the organisation is held every five years for the posts of president, two vice-presidents, a resident president and two honorary secretaries.
Nirmal Singh defeated Sarabjit Singh, who represented the group backed by Chadha, by 33 votes. Nirmal got 176 votes, while the latter secured 143.
Of five other office-bearers, the Ankhi group wrested four with Inderbir Singh Nijjar, Amarjit Singh Banga (both are vice-presidents), Surinder Singh Ramulian Wala and Sawinder Singh Kathunangal (honorary secretaries). From the Chadha camp, Harminder Singh secured the post of resident president by defeating Sukhdev Singh Mattewal by 14 votes.
Even as he was expelled after a sleazy video of him with a woman principal surfaced in December 2017, Chadha still held sway over the organisation that runs over 50 educational institutes and welfare institutions such as orphanages, old-age homes and hospitals, with the election of Santokh
Singh, who was backed by him, in the bypolls in March last year.
Ankhi, who was close to former Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president late Gurcharan Singh Tohra, was expelled by the CKD during Chadha’s tenure as its head.
Of a total of 329 members who came to the CKD headquarters, six were not allowed to cast their
vote amid a controversy over their being ‘patit’ (Sikhs with shorn hair).
After being elected, Nirmal Singh said reviving the old glory of Chief Khalsa Diwan will be their top priority. “We will also conduct a probe into the irregularities that took place in the past,” he said.
Now, the election for the 25-member executive will be held, which is usually done unanimously by the CKD house.
RO WALKS OUT OVER ‘PATIT’ VOTER ROW
Balinder Singh, one of three returning officers-cum-election observers, walked out during the polling, which was conducted with secret ballot papers amid tight security, in protest against the alleged voting by some ‘patit’ members. Singh said he walked out as he found himself helpless in stopping the voting by ‘patit’ members in a sheer violation of the CKD’s constitution.The other two returning officers, Iqbal Singh Lalpura and Jaswinder Singh Dhillon, denied the charges.