AMRITSAR: Stung by one controversy after another, the over century-old Sikh institution Chief Khalsa Diwan (CKD) is set for a hotly-contested election on December 2. To begin with, candidates of rival factions of former secretary Bhag Singh Ankhi and controversial former president Charanjit Singh Chadha have started holding marathon meetings with members.Nirmal Singh Thekedar is the presidential candidate of Ankhi group, while the Chadha faction is backing Sarabjit Singh for the top post. Talking to TOI on Friday, Thekedar expressed concern over damage done to the image of the 116-year-old religious body — first by a sleazy video of Chadha that went viral on the internet and then the imprisonment of former president Dr Santokh Singh in a forgery case. “We have to restore the confidence of panth in the CKD and its management. Also, we will have to make its functioning transparent,” he said.The CKD came in the news when an objectionable video of Chadha along with the woman principal of CKD-run school had gone viral on December 26, 2017, following which one of its members had lodged a complaint with Akal Takht to summon Chadha and take exemplary religious action against him.On December 28, 2017, the Akal Takht had summoned Chadha to appear before the clergy. In an unprecedented decision, the Akal Takht jathedar announced to keep an eye on the ‘chal chalan’ (character) of Chadha for two years. Police had also registered a case against Chadha and his son Inderpreet Singh Chadha, who later committed suicide.In March this year, Santokh was elected as president during the midterm poll held at Gurdwara Kalghidhar Sahib, situated in CKD headquarters. He had won with a margin of 10 votes. Santokh polled 152 votes, while his nearest candidate, Shiromani Akali Dal-backed Rajmohinder Singh Majitha, bagged 142 votes. The then officiating president, Dhanraj, got only 65 votes. Only 365 of the total 511CKD members participated in voting at the time. In September, Santokh had resigned from the post of president, after a court sentence him to five years in jail in a forgery case. The resignation necessitated the latest general elections, even as the term of the present house was to end in February 2019.Jaswinder Singh, who is contesting for the secretary’s post backed by Santokh’s group, said their aim was to popularize educational institutes of CKD at an international level. “CKD school of excellence is one such example; we want these institutes to have international recognition and acceptance,” he said.Laying stress on in-house training of teachers at CKD, he said they hoped to set up a dedicated institute for in-house training of teachers, so they were continuously updated in new and advanced teaching techniques. Thekedar said they had approached more than 200 members so far to seek their support.A CKD member, who did not want to give his name, said candidates of both the groups arrived at his house at the same time recently. “There were some tense moments, but I hosted them separately and had no option but to promise my vote to both,” he said, adding that he was worried over the cut-throat competition between the two factions.

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