Gurdwara Sahib of Fremont

The Gurdwara Sahib of Fremont (also commonly referred to as the Fremont Gurdwara or the Sikh Temple of Fremont) is a center of Sikh worship. Although it is located in Fremont, a city in southern Alameda County, it serves the greater San Francisco Bay Area consisting of the counties of Alameda, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, Contra Costa, Santa Rosa and Solano. Officially, the Gurdwara's Supreme Council extends registered membership to all those who live in the Bay Area, as well as locations in the Central Valley such as San Joaquin and Stanislaus Counties. The Gurdwara is also one of the most influential in the entire world, garnering an income of over a million dollars every single year.

Controversy

In the mid-1990s five Sikh men belonging to the congregation sued the five member Supreme Council of the Gurdwara in an attempt to unseat the men from their seats of power, and re-elect a new Council. The plaintiffs alleged that the Supreme Council had been voted in unfairly and did not deserve their seats, in addition, the term of the seats of the Supreme Council should have passed already, and a new Council should be elected. The Supreme Council, in a court battle that lasted for several years, held up in their argument that the seats of the Supreme Council, as tradition would uphold, are held under life terms. The Judge, the Honorable Julia Spain, of the Alameda County Superior Court favored with the plaintiffs and ordered that an election be held after membership of the congregation can be validated, and additional elections would be held every year from that point, unless the newly elected Supreme Council, along with a vote by the Congregation would decide otherwise. The Gurdwara meticuously gathered a list of the members of the congregation, and an election was finally held after the sitting Supreme Council ran out of appeals. The election resulted in a completely new Council. Recently, as of 2008, several of the original Council members were re-elected into the council, forming the current majority slate of the council.

Location

*Geolinks-US-buildingscale|37.583553|-121.998244

Other Gurdwaras in the Bay Area

*Gurdwara Sahib of El Sobrante
*Gurdwara Sahib of Hayward
*Gurdwara Sahib of San Jose
*Gurdwara Sahib of Milpitas
*Sikh Foundation of Palo Alto
*Sikh Temple of Santa Rosa
*Santa Rosa Gurdwara Sahib

External links

* [http://www.fremontgurdwara.org Home Page of the Fremont Gurdwara]
* [http://www.nbsf.cjb.net Home Page of the Santa Rosa Gurdwara] North Bay Sikh Foundation