Senior SAD leader Bibi Jagir Kaur has been elected president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) for the third time at the annual general house meeting at Teja Singh Samundari Hall, the headquarters of the apex gurdwara body, in Amritsar.
Bibi Jagir Kaur replaces Gobind Singh Longowal, who remained the SGPC chief for three years. Bibi Jagir Kaur is a former SGPC chief too and had become the first woman to be elected to the post in March 1999.
Earlier, the members, owing allegiance to the SAD, entrusted all rights to party president Sukhbir Singh Badal to take the call on electing the new head of the Sikh body, during a closed-door session at Teja Singh Samundri Hall. Amidst opposition by some members, who proposed the name of former SAD leader Mithu Singh Kahneke, the voting process was adopted.
Jagir Kaur emerged the winner with a convincing margin. She polled 122 votes out of the total 143.
She was earlier the president of the committee from 1999 to 2000. In 2000, she resigned from her post following the controversy in which she was accused of killing her daughter. She was acquitted by Punjab and Haryana High Court in December 2018.
The rest of the office-bearers were elected unanimously. Surjeet Singh Bhittewid was elected senior vice-president and Buta Singh junior vice-president. Bhagwant Singh Sialka was elected general secretary.
Other executive members are Navtej Singh, Baldev Singh Chung, Satwinder Singh Tohra, Bhupinder Singh Bhelwan, Amrik Singh, Sant Charanjit Singh, Darshan Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Malkiat Kaur and Ajmer Singh.
