Senior SAD leader Bibi Jagir Kaur has been elected president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee for the fourth time.
Earlier, the members, owing allegiance to the SAD, entrusted all rights to party president Sukhbir Singh Badal to take the call on electing the new head of the Sikh body, during a closed-door session at Teja Singh Samundri Hall here.
Amidst opposition by some members, who proposed the name of former SAD leader Mithu Singh Kahneke, the voting process was adopted.
Jagir Kaur emerged winner with a convincing margin. She polled 122 votes out of the total 143.
She was earlier the president of the committee from 1999 to 2000.
In 2000, she resigned from her post following the controversy in which she was accused of killing her daughter. She was acquitted by Punjab and Haryana High Court in December 2018.
The rest of the office-bearers were elected unanimously.
Surjeet Singh Bhittewid was elected senior vice-president and Buta Singh junior vice-president. Bhagwant Singh Sialka was elected general secretary.
Kahneke, SGPC member from Mansa, had resigned from the primary membership of the SAD due to differences with leadership in August.
Bibi Jagir Kaur proposed his name for the executive.
Other executive members are Navtej Singh, Baldev Singh Chung, Satwinder Singh Tohra, Bhupinder Singh Bhelwan, Amrik Singh, Sant Charanjit Singh, Darshan Singh, Harbhajan Singh, Malkiat Kaur and Ajmer Singh.
FROM MATH TEACHER TO BHOLATH MLA
Born on October 15, 1954, at Bhatnura Lubana village in Jalandhar district, Jagir Kaur is known as an aggressive leader of the Akali Dal. She graduated in arts in 1977 and did B.Ed. the next year. She worked as a mathematics teacher in a government school for 11 years.
In 1980, she married Charanjit Singh, the son of Harnam Singh, the head of Dera Sant Baba Prem Singh Murale Wale at Begowal in Kapurthala district. The couple had two daughters, Harpreet Kaur and Ranjeet Kaur. Her husband died in 1983. After her husband’s death, she took over the responsibility of the head of the dera in 1987.
Being the dera head, she held considerable sway in Bholath assembly segment that is known as a stronghold of the Lubana Sikh community. She formally joined the Shiromani Akali Dal in 1995 and was elected as an SGPC member in 1996.