A bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha which envisages to amend 91-year-old Sikh Gurdwaras Act to exclude Sahajdhari Sikhs from voting in the elections to Sikh religious bodies.

•  The bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha which envisages to amend 91-year-old Sikh Gurdwaras Act to exclude Sahajdhari Sikhs from voting in elections to Sikh religious bodies.
• The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 was a piece of legislation in British India, which legally defined Sikh identity and brought Sikh gurdwaras (houses of worship) under the control of an elected body of orthodox Sikhs.
• The Bill was introduced in the House by Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
• The Bill proposes to remove the exception given to Sahajdhari Sikhs in 1944 to vote in the elections to select the members of the Board and the Committees constituted under the Act.

However, the notification was quashed by the High Court of Punjab and Haryana on December 20, 2011, leaving it to the appropriate and competent legislature to decide as to whether or not to amend the Act to that effect.

About Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925

• The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925 was a piece of legislation in British India which legally defined Sikh identity and brought Sikh gurdwaras (houses of worship) under the control of an elected body of orthodox Sikhs.
• Identification as a Sikh was defined by the attestation: One who professes the Sikh religion – I solemnly affirm that I am a Sikh, that I believe in the Guru Granth Sahib, that I believe in the Ten Gurus, and that I have no other religion. This definition was to stand until 1945.
• Custody of historic Sikh shrines would pass to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, an Sikh-led committee.
• The SGPC, formed in 1920, was defined as consisting of 120 practicing Sikhs, the heads of the Panj Takht (five primary Sikh gurdwaras), 12 appointees from the Princely States, and “14 co-opted members”