Moderates Win A Tight Ross Street Gurdwara Election!

The Malkit Singh Dhami slate got a total vote of 4370 while the Joga Singh Sangha slate got 3685 with a total turnout being 8170 votes from a total registered vote total of just over 10,000 members. So just over 80 percent of the total registered voters coming out to vote.

By R. Paul Dhillon

VANCOUVER – After much tussling, name calling and accusations over control of the Sikhs oldest Society in North America, the Khalsa Diwan Society – 8000 Ross Street, Vancouver – the Moderate slate of Malkiat Singh Dhami, Mohan Singh Gill and Jarnail Singh Bhandal – won a tight race last Saturday by about 600 votes over the Sikh Sangat slate led by Joga Singh Sangha, who many saw as one of the reasons for the slate's failure.

The Dhami slate got a total vote of 4370 while the Sangha slate got 3685 with a total turnout being 8170 votes from a total registered vote total of just over 10,000 members. So just over 80 percent of the total registered voters coming out to vote.

The difference seems to be the rejection again of Joga Singh by the voters and the Moderates successful use o f the Chairs and Tables issue, although it may not have been the deciding factor, but it did help the Moderates get their vote out on Saturday.

The Sikh Sangat group alleged that there were some irregularities like handing out membership cards from cars and a Chinese-Nepalese looking guy and his wife voting as they didn't seem to be Sikhs, but the bottom line is that after all the court battles and fighting and charges, the Moderates have kept control of the Gurdwara for another two years.

And it is back to the drawing board for the Sikh Sangat group, which lost its leader and key supporter Amar Singh Sandhu, who was murdered in a brazen daytime hit by a killer still on the loose. The battle was tight but Sikh Sangat just didn't have enough support and the Moderates showed by winning that they still rule at the South Vancouver temple.

The Sikh Sangat will have to regroup now, think of the mistakes they made and see who they need to put forward in the next election if they are to make Sandhu's dream of having traditionalist Sikhs regain power at Ross Street Gurdwara.

Courtesy The LINK Newspaper