Bibi Jagir Kaur among 3 SGPC members in electoral fray

Amritsar, Jan 8 (UNI) Former Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandik Committee (SGPC) president Bibi Jagir Kaur is among the three SGPC members who have entered the electoral fray as candidates of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) led by Prakash Singh Badal.

The Bibi will again contest from the Bholath assembly constituency which has a sizeable percentage of 'Lubana' Sikh voters, the community to which she belongs. Bibi Jagir Kaur had won this seat on two occasions, in 1997 and 2002, with impressive margins of above 10,000 votes.

In the 190 member SGPC general house, the SAD has around 158 members, while the remaining owe allegiance to the other Akali and Panthic factions.

The other two SAD heavyweights and SGPC members in the electoral arena are former ministers Suchha Singh Langah from Dhariwal and Sewa Singh Sekhwan from Kahnuwan constituency. Both these constituencies fall in Gurdaspur district.

Mr Langah and Mr Sekhwan had both been aspirants to the post of the SGPC chief, but their aspirations could never be fulfilled, as Mr Badal often overlooked them and chose lesser known figures. Mr Badal hand picked Bibi Jagir Kaur in 1998 to head the SGPC, while ignoring their claims to this prestigious post.

Mr Langah had won the Dhariwal seat for the first time in the 1997 polls but in the last elections, he lost by a slender margin of just 80 votes, the narrowest victory margin in Punjab. On the other hand, Mr Sekhwan won the Dhariwal seat in 1997 but lost to Congress heavyweight Partap Singh Bajwa in the 2002 polls. Mr Bajwa, who is the education and PWD minister, is expected to be the Congress nominee from this seat.

The present SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar, who was the SAD candidate from Ludhiana West in the last polls, has been denied the ticket by the SAD. He had lost in the last elections.

The SAD list also contains the name of Ranjit Singh Talwandi, son of former SGPC chief and old Akali war-horse Jagdev Singh Talwandi, who is still a member of the SGPC. Ranjit Singh will again contest from Raikot assembly constituency.

Former minister Gurdev Singh Badal, who is father of SGPC junior vice-president Kewal Singh Badal, has again been chosen by the SAD for the Panj Gariana (reserve) seat. Harmel Singh Tohra, son-in-law of former SGPC chief the late Gurcharan Singh Tohra, has been nominated from the Dakala segment.

Another prominent relative of a SGPC member in the electoral fray is Jagjivan Singh Khirnia, son of Kirpal Singh Khirnia. He will contest as the SAD nominee from the Samrala constituency.

UNI