Sehajdhari Sikh Federation (now Sehajdhari Sikh Party)

What it is: The Federation speaks for Sehajdhari Sikhs. The Encyclopaedia of Sikhism describes a Sahajdhari as a Sikh who believes in the Ten Gurus and the Guru Granth Sahib but does not keep unshorn hair, with Khalsa baptism remaining the ideal he or she hopes to reach or see in a child. The Encyclopaedia says Sahajdharis have been part of the Sikh body since Guru Gobind Singh's time, and names Bhai Nand Lal, Bhai Kanhaiya and Diwan Kaura Mal among them. Hindustan Times says the term entered the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 and that Sehajdharis got votes in SGPC elections in 1944.

How it began: Wikipedia says Dr Paramjit Singh Ranu founded the Sehajdhari Sikh Federation on 13 April 2001 at Gurdwara Tahliana Sahib, Raikot, when the SGPC moved to take away Sehajdharis' votes. It says the Federation was registered in Ludhiana, became a registered political party and was later renamed the Sehajdhari Sikh Party. We found no better source for the founding.

Key moments

• 2003: the Union home ministry, under the BJP-led government, issued a notification amending the 1925 Act to exclude Sehajdharis from gurdwara polls.
• 2011: the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashed the notification on the party's petition, holding that such a change had to come through the legislature. Elections to the 170 elected seats of the SGPC general house had just been held without Sehajdharis. The SGPC went to the Supreme Court, which froze the elected house and let the 15-member executive in office before the election carry on.
• March and April 2016: the Sikh Gurdwaras (Amendment) Bill, 2016 passed the Rajya Sabha unanimously and then the Lok Sabha, to debar Sehajdharis with effect from 2003. The Shiromani Akali Dal, which controls the SGPC, argued that only Sikhs should manage shrines. Hindustan Times said a smaller electorate was easier for the Dal to handle. The Sehajdhari Sikh Party claimed that 70 lakh of 1.75 crore Sikhs were pushed out of gurdwara management.
• 10 October 2026: four Sikh organisations asked Union Home Minister Amit Shah to have the Gurdwara Election Commission hold SGPC elections, saying none had been held since 2011.

Where it stands: Wikipedia lists Dr Ranu as the party's founder and president. The sources we opened do not say what the Supreme Court has done since 2016, or whether the Party's challenge is still pending.