Court Gives Go Ahead For November 26 Election!
The Sikh Youth Vancouver and the newly named United Sikh Youth had nearly reached a compromise but individuals within one or both groups apparently caused it to split again into two groups as court gives go ahead to the November 26 elections. But will this split and running two separate Sikh Youth slates mean an advantage for the incumbent moderate slate which itself has been experiencing defections and other negative publicity from closing of the Khalsa school on its premises.
By R. Paul Dhillon
VANCOUVER – The Sikh Youth Vancouver and the newly named United Sikh Youth had nearly reached a compromise but individuals within one or both groups apparently caused it to split again into two groups as court gives go ahead to the November 26 elections.
But will this split and running two separate Sikh Youth slates mean an advantage for the incumbent moderate slate which itself has been experiencing defections and other negative publicity from closing of the Khalsa school on its premises.
The Sikh Youth Vancouver had taken the forged and fraud membership forms to court and despite the judge laughingly stating that “you did not need to see an expert for these” because they were so blatantly different, the matter was thrown out in a technicality as the Judge felt the elections need to go ahead so that the temple’s business could be run by a duly elected executive instead of a caretaker group under the current arrangement. Nonetheless, the judge found the “forgery disturbing” and fraud was proven in court, according to Sikh Youth Vancouver .
SYV say that they have faced many hurdles from the very beginning.
” We not only faced the current executive but also groups wanting to monopolize their hold on all the Gurdwaras. We never lost hope or faith. After spending $200 000 dollars on the legal process to eradicate the wrongdoings we will leave final decision up to the Sangat,” the group said.
“We want the Sangat to know that Sikh Youth Vancouver has been here for two years. We are a Vancouver based group. The foundation of our group is not even running for executive position. We did it to bring a change. The change is to bring our community together.”
The SYV’s challengers – the United Sikh Youth – submitted its slate on to contest the election for Khalsa Diwan Society (Vancouver) by naming Joga Singh Sangha as their president candidate. Other notable community leaders on the slate include moderate slate defector Gurpal Singh Birak, Devinder Singh Maan, former principal and founder of Guru Nanak Elementary School, Rina Kaur Chawla.
United Sikh Youth has released a five-point platform of change, which include Unity, Sikhi, Family, Education and Seva. Each point has a number of specific proposals attached to it to ensure that United Sikh Youth lives up to its promise of bringing positive change to the Khalsa Diwan Society.
The Sikh Youth Vancouver slate is headed by Sikh broadcaster Kuldip Singh for President and journalist Lakhbir Khangura for Secretary. SYV charges that the United Sikh Youth have brought on questionable individuals, including a member of the tainted Balwant Gill moderate executive in Surrey, and that their slate for Ross Street elections is nothing like the slates they have run for Surrey and New West Gurdwaras.
There will be a many such fireworks between all the groups vying for control of the Sikhs oldest society in North America in the weeks to come.
