Amritsar: Former Punjab minister Gobind Singh Longowal was elected as the 42nd chief of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, during its annual general house meeting here today. 

Soon after Longowal's election, the SGPC General House also passed a resolution condemning the move to rename Dyal Singh (Evening) College in Delhi as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya. Longowal, a former SAD MLA from Dhuri, got 154 out of 169 votes whereas rival candidate Amrik Singh Shahpur could garner only 15 votes. Former SGPC chief Bibi Jagir Kaur had proposed Longowal's name for the position. 

Raghujit Singh Virk was elected senior vice president, Harpal Singh Jalla as junior vice president while Gurbachan Singh Karmowala was chosen the general secretary of the SGPC today. The three were elected unanimously as were the eleven executive members of the SGPC. Earlier, SGPC member Kaur proposed the name of Gobind Singh Longowal as the next SGPC president. 

Elections for SGPC chief's post were necessitated when a group led by SGPC member Sukhdev Singh Bhaur proposed the name of Amrik Singh Shahpur for the president's post. Longowal has remained an MLA in 1985, 1997 and 2002. He had also won a by-election from Dhuri in 2015. The General House of the SGPC today, soon after the elections, passed a resolution condemning the decision to rename Dyal Singh (Evening) College in Delhi as Vande Mataram Mahavidyalaya.