YOU HAVE UNTIL TOMORROW TO SIGN UP TO VOTE FOR THE UPCOMING ROSS STREET GURDWARA ELECTIONS!

The Ross Street Gurdwara (Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver) membership registration come to an end on Sunday, July 3, which will be the last day to sign up to vote in the upcoming election. This is happening as the spirit of murdered Sikh Sangat Society leader Aamrjit Singh “Amar” Sandhu watches over the proceedings after he was shockingly gunned down in Richmond in a professional style hit. There is much talk that his murder has something to do with Gurdwara politics but the police have not released much information as to who might be behind Sandhu’s murder.

VANCOUVER – The Ross Street Gurdwara (Khalsa Diwan Society, Vancouver) membership registration come to an end on Sunday, July 3, which will be the last day to sign up to 

vote in the upcoming election.

This is happening as the spirit of murdered Sikh Sangat Society leader Aamrjit Singh “Amar” Sandhu watches over the proceedings after he was shockingly gunned down in Richmond in a professional style hit. There is much talk that his murder has something to do with Gurdwara politics but the police have not released much information as to who might be behind Sandhu’s murder.

The ongoing costly court battle for control ended in the BC Supreme Court nullifying all previous memberships.  Only memberships that were registered after January 27, 2016 will now be valid. 

If anyone has a membership card, it is not valid and those people will not be able to vote in the September election.  No cards have yet been issued under the new membership enrollment.  New cards will be issued in the coming weeks and only people with the new cards will be allowed to vote.

Sikh Sagat Seva Society, under the leadership of the late Amar Sandhu, challenged the current executive on various fronts. 

“Amar put in a great deal of time and financially supported this project that resulted in equal representation during enrollment and ensures a fair election.  If the process that was ordered by the courts had been implemented, as requested by Sikh Sangat,  from the start then hundreds of thousands of the dollars could have been saved.  Unfortunately, our many requests fell to deaf years,” Sikh Sangat Society said in a press release.

Some issues brought up in court were of membership forms being picked up from people’s homes contrary to the rules, payments for memberships being made multiple times with same receipt, unsigned membership forms, duplicate memberships and the denial to the opposition for required forms.

Sikh Sangat recently held a public meeting that outlined the need for change. 

“The current group has been in control for nearly twenty years and it’s time for a change,” said many who spoke at the meeting. 

Celebrated former wrestler Avtar S. Bhullar expressed why the change was so important now and that there was a need to get the youth involved and deal with their many issues.  “There needs to be a new energy and engage the youth in a positive manner.  This has not happened in years.  Sikh Sangat can make it happen,” Bhullar said. 

Perhaps the most damaging individual to the current executive is Manjit Singh Cheema who was a part of the current Ross group and served on the committee for the past three years. He recently called the current group’s reign “a dictatorship.”

Last week, Cheema exposed on live Punjabi radio how the current group functions and why the change is necessary.  He had many questions for the current regime and asked why things were being hidden.

In another boost to the Sikh Sangat campaign, former muliti-term moderate Ross president Gurdev Singh Johal put his support behind Sikh Sangat and expressed the need for a change.  Johal is a successful businessman in the farming industry and yields a great deal of support in the community. 

“Amar fought and got us the rights for a fair process, now it’s up to us to become involved and be a part of the change making process.  We all need to work together and make sure there are no more court battles and that things are done fairly regardless of whoever is in power.  There must be full financial transparency and accountability.  Only with a change and full audit will we know the true state of the financial affairs.  A change is necessary because the community deserves better.  It’s up to all of us to do our part now and be a part of the change so that there can be better Gurdwara programs and more community involvement especially with the young,” Johal said.