It is the end of an era at Surrey's Guru Nanak Sikh Temple. Long-time moderate president Balwant Singh Gill was the runner-up in temple elections Sunday that saw an orthodox youth group sweep all the temple executive positions.
The youth group, heading by presidential candidate Amardeep Singh, won with 5,900 votes to Gill's 4,747, following by third place finisher Sadhu Singh Samra, with 3,947.
Gill and Samra had worked together for years as president and vice-president, but split acrimoniously in recent months, causing a division among moderate voters.
The total number of votes cast for the former allies was almost 3,000 more than the victorious slate.
Singh said his executive, which takes over Jan. 1, will make youth and children in the community its priority.
"We are particularly focused on children and youth and we want to keep them away from gangs and violence, which has been a big problem in the Indo-Canadian community," Singh said in an interview Monday. "We were elected with a plan to try to bring change."
A decade ago, the Sikh community was divided over an edict from India to remove tables and chairs in temple dining rooms known as langar halls.
Gill's group endured two fights at the temple as fundamentalists linked to separatist groups tried to remove the tables back in 1996 and 1997.
The new leadership ran on a platform of following the edict, which "means eating on the ground," Singh said.
But Singh said there is no rush to make a change like removing the tables and chairs and that everything will be done in consultation with temple worshippers.
He said if and when the furniture is removed, there will be special provisions for the elderly and the disabled.
"We want to bring change, but we also want to bring the community back together," said Singh, a 26-year-old software engineer.
Neither Gill nor Samra could be reached for comment.
There were almost 20,000 eligible voters for the election of the temple, which operates as a charitable organization.
Newly Elected Executives :
-By Kim Bolan, Vancouver Sun
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