-APS NOORPURI
Delhi- 28 September : Mr Inder Mohan Singh, Ex Member of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) and President of Dashmesh Sewa Society (Regd) has expressed his deep concern over decreasing number of Delhi Sikh Voters. He said that there were 3.42 Lakh Sikh voters during 2021 Delhi Gurdwara Elections, which have decreased by 45 percent thereby going down to 1.89 Lakh only. Whereas the total population of Delhi is about 2.27 crore but the Sikh voters are reflected to only half percent of it. Mr Inder Mohan Singh said that there were 1.59 lakh Sikh voter in draft voter lists published in August 2026 and after deadline of September 14, 2026 for filing claims and objections, only 30 thousand voters have been added all over Delhi. He said that whereas the less inclination of Sikhs towards Gurdwara management is one of the reasons but on the other hand the Governments has also not shown any particular efforts in this exercise because neither the Government took any interest to repeatedly aware the Sikh citizens through press or electronic media nor made any effort to liason with the Singh Sabhas Gurdwaras of Delhi for co-operation in this ongoing process of preparation of fresh voter lists.
Mr Inder Mohan Singh said that in accordance with an affidavit filed recently in the Delhi High Court, the government is going for final publication of voter lists in the second week of October 2026 and thereafter after completing the required exercise of re-delimitation of Gurdwara wards in consultation with the DSGMC, Delhi Gurdwaras general elections are likely to be conducted in the month of February-March 2027. But the names of Sikh youth attaining age of 18 years as on January 1, 2027 have not been added to the voter lists, which is a gross violation of the Delhi Sikh Gurdwaras Act because if election are held in the year 2027, it is mandatory to give voting right to every eligible Sikh attaining age of 18 years as on January 1, 2027. Mr Inder Mohan Singh said that if less number of Sikh population is reflected, then the Sikh community can lose other benefits apart from losing the status of 2nd language given to the Punjabi language. Mr Inder Mohan Singh said that under rule 39 of the Gurdwara Act, fresh voter can still be enrolled. He made an appeal to entire Sikh Sangat, Sikh leaders and Sikh groups to pay attention on this issue.
