Amritsar on top in voter enrolment for SGPC poll

Amritsar has received the highest 5.63 lakh applications in the state for as voter registration for the upcoming Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections. As per the data of the Chief Election Gurdwara Commission, in all, 41.02 lakh applications had been received from across the state.

Till August 27, Ludhiana stood second with 4.56 lakh applications, followed by Gurdaspur (3.59 lakh), Sangrur (2.58 lakh), Tarn Taran (2.43 lakh), Jalandhar (2.15 lakh), Patiala (2.07 lakh), Ferozepur (1.92 lakh), Bhatinda (1.75 lakh), SAS Nagar (1.62 lakh), Moga (1.62 lakh), Mansa (1.38 lakh), Barnala (1.37 lakh), Roopnagar (1.31 lakh), Fatehgarh Sahib (1.09 lakh), Kapurthala (1.08 lakh), Hoshiarpur (1.05 lakh), Faridkot (69,580), Malerkotla (60,679), SBS Nagar (56,770) and Pathankot (35,896).

Officials said the final “eligible voters” count would be known only after September 16. “It will take at least two more weeks to compile the electors’ lists as the updated list has to be received not only from Punjab, but from other states too,” he said.

During the last SGPC elections in 2011, a total of 52.69 lakh “eligible” voters were registered in Punjab, 3.37 lakh in Haryana, 23,011 in Himachal Pradesh and 11,932 in Chandigarh.

Haryana’s Sikhs would be out of the picture this time as a separate ad hoc Sikh body has been formed there.

The voter registration process for the SGPC elections was started on October 21 last year.