Question

When was the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elections held?
A. 1958
B. 1954
C. 1961
D. 1965

Answer 1

Hint: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) is an organization active in the three states of India namely Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and the union territory of Chandigarh. It is highly responsible for the supervision of Gurdwaras, the Sikh places of worship in these states, and is also administering Darbar Sahib located in Amritsar.

Complete answer: Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) was founded on November 15, 1920, with original 175 founding members. The headquarters of the committee were located in Teja Singh Samundri Hall at the Sri Harmandir Sahib Complex. The elections of the SGPC are conducted by the Gurdwara Election Commission as per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925. The democratically elected SGPC committee was said to have a greater influence over the political agenda of Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab politics in the year 1966, before the formation of Punjab Sabha. In the elections of 1958, the defeat of Master Tara Singh was decoded as the defeat of the Punjabi Suba movement. The next SGPC elections were held in the years 1960, 1979, and 2005.

Additional Information.
The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee recently celebrated their 100th Foundation Day on 17th November 2020. After every 5 years, the SGPC elections are held. The term of the present house expired in 2009 but no elections were held after that.

Thus, option (A) is correct.

Note: The SGPC elections have not taken place in the last nine years, the main reason being the failure of the leaders to probe the 328 missing copies of the holy book of the Sikhs Guru Granth Sahib’. This is the biggest scandal in the history of SGPC and has caused protests of unprecedented magnitude outside its office in Amritsar.