Amritsar: Radical Sikh organisations on Wednesday condemned the order of Punjab and Haryana High Court, which allowed 'sehajdharis (non-baptised Sikhs) to cast votes in SGPC polls.
"The High Court decision has plunged the Sikh community into fresh crises...Sehajdharis are non-Sikhs, describing them as part of Sikhism is untrue," Dal Khalsa spokesperson Kanwar Pal Singh said.
He said due to some political reasons, Sehajdharis were given voting rights in 1959 though there was no such provision in the original Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925.
However, this "anomaly" was corrected in 2003 when a Union government notification debarred Sehajdharis from casting votes in SGPC polls, he said.
The High Court had on Tuesday quashed the 2003 notification debarring the Sehajdharis to cast their votes in the SGPC elections.
Khalsa Action Committee chairman Bhai Mohkam Singh said, the court order may hamoer interests of the community as "there were instances of direct interference of non-Sikhs under the garb of Sehajdharis in Sikh religious affairs".
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