The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Monday claimed a clean sweep in the 170-member general house of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the mini-Parliament of Sikh religious affairs.
Senior party leaders said its candidates won 157 out of the 170 seats on which polling was held Sunday in Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.
The results to the SGPC general house will officially be announced Thursday by the Gurdwara Election Commission here.
Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, who is also Punjab deputy chief minister, said the results had clearly shown that the electorate favoured the Akali Dal policies.
"We will continue this victory campaign in next year's assembly election also," Badal said here.
Akali Dal secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said that SAD-Sant Samaj (a group of Sikh religious organisations) combine candidates have won their seats with comfortable margins.
"The results have proved that Sikh masses have completely rejected the Congress-led so called Panthic Morcha and reposed full faith in the policies and programmes of the SAD," Cheema said here.
He further said the massive mandate has taught a lesson to the Congress to refrain from meddling in the internal affairs of Sikhs.
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