The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee was formed in November 1920 to manage the historic gurdwaras, and the Shiromani Akali Dal was formed a month later as its volunteer and political wing.
The Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925, won after five years of morchas and hundreds of deaths, gave the SGPC statutory control of the historic shrines in Punjab and made it an elected body. Its electorate is Sikhs registered as voters in Punjab, Himachal and Chandigarh; Haryana left after the Supreme Court upheld its separate gurdwara committee in 2022.
It runs the Golden Temple, the takhts in Punjab, hundreds of gurdwaras, schools, colleges and hospitals, and an annual budget in the hundreds of crores. It appoints the jathedars of the takhts.
It is often called the parliament of the Sikhs. It is also an elected body of one country, and the Panth is not. Sikhs in Delhi have a separate committee, Sikhs in Pakistan have another, and diaspora Sikhs have no vote in any of them.
That mismatch, an institution with religious authority over a global community and an electorate confined to Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, is behind most of the institutional disputes of the last forty years, including the calendar.
Its general election is held rarely and irregularly. Long stretches pass with the same house continuing, and the preparation of the voters' roll has itself been the subject of litigation.
It controls the shrines, their income, a large network of schools and colleges, and the appointment of the jathedars of three of the five takhts.
Its elections have been delayed for long periods and the electoral roll is contested. It is the largest religious institution in the state and the argument about who controls it is a permanent feature of Punjab politics.