NEW DELHI: The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee’s (SGPC) November 20 election is shaping up to be more than a contest for the president’s chair. While Harjinder Singh Dhami is seeking to continue, former President Bibi Jagir Kaur is looking to make a comeback.
Jagir Kaur has indicated that she will return to the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) on November 13, with party president Sukhbir Singh Badal travelling to Begowal, her home constituency, to welcome her.
That timing makes the election a test of two kinds of influence: who can command support inside the SGPC house, and who can help the Akali Dal rebuild its political strength before Punjab votes in 2027. The result may not decide the party’s electoral future, but it will offer a revealing measure of where its influence stands.
SGPC members are elected from constituencies across Punjab, in both urban and rural areas. They carry influence in their local communities, giving the body a reach beyond gurdwara management. Their political choices and standing in their regions could therefore matter in the 2027 Assembly elections.
Jagir Kaur’s expected return is striking because she has moved through the very divisions now reshaping Akali politics. After differences with the Badal-led party, she joined SAD (Punar Surjit), led by Giani Harpreet Singh. Now she is preparing to return to SAD (Badal), saying she never really left the Akali Dal and was expelled from it.
In conversation with NDTV, Jagir Kaur described herself as still an Akali and said the SGPC needed reform. She also spoke about connecting more people with the Sikh faith, arguing that this could help address conversion concerns and other social challenges. Her return raises an immediate question: will she seek the SGPC presidency, or is her priority to strengthen the party and its position in the house?
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