The Punjab-Haryana High Court has issued an order in response to a petition citing the sluggishness in the preparation of the voter list for the SGPC elections. The court has directed the Chief Secretary, the Election Commissioners of Punjab and Himachal, and the Advisor to the Administrator in Chandigarh to submit their replies regarding this matter by February 27.

While filing the petition, Misal Satluj Welfare Society said that the work of preparing voter lists for SGPC elections is going on in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh.

The Chief Commissioner of Gurdwara Elections penned a letter to the Election Commissioners of several states on May 25, 2023, initiating voter list preparation. However, the pace was notably sluggish, leading to an incomplete status even past the intended deadline. Consequently, the Punjab government extended the registration deadline from November 15 to February 2024.

The petitioner said that the main reason for the delay in preparing the voter list is the use of the old system. To speed up this, it would be best to adopt the option of online registration. The second major reason is that different systems are being adopted for registration in the voter list everywhere, whereas it can be speeded up by adopting the same process at all places.

Every time the voter list is prepared before the elections, what should be done is that the electoral roll should be prepared and updated before the elections. If this process is adopted, then unnecessary delays in preparing the voter list before the elections can be avoided.

The High Court has ordered the Chief Gurdwara Election Commissioner, Chief Secretaries, and Election Commissioners of Punjab and Himachal, along with the advisor to the Administrator in Chandigarh, to file a reply on the petition.

The petitioners had filed a petition in the High Court saying that in the 1996 notification of the Central Government, 120 seats of Shiromani Gurdwara Management Board were fixed. These eight seats—Ambala, Yamuna Nagar, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Hisar, Sirsa, and Dabwali—were from Haryana. In such a situation, this notification is still valid; hence, under this notification of 1996, elections should be conducted on these eight seats of Haryana as well.

Now SGPC has also filed its reply in this matter and said that SGPC represents the entire Sikh community; hence, it agrees with the demands raised in this petition and is ready to conduct elections on these seats of Haryana. The Central Government has sought some time to file its reply to the petition.