Tuesday, March 21 2006 16:18 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Ahead of the general elections to Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee in July, Akali groupings running for the religious office have pledged legal support to 50 people suspected of involvement in 1985 transistor bomb blasts in northern India that claimed 69 lives.

DSGMC chief Harvinder Singh Sarna and his opponent Manjit Singh, who heads Shiromani Akali Dal (Panthak), have said they would bear legal costs of the suspects after a Delhi court ordered framing of charges against two of the accused.

Manjit Singh, who is also a senior DSGMC member, announced legal support for the suspects in a party resolution during his grouping's second annual convention last evening.

Sarna, who also faces electoral challenge from arch-rival Parkash Singh Badal's Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), said the DSGMC under his control has received a request for legal aid from a blast suspect belonging to the party of the former Punjab Chief Minister.

"A member of the political affairs committee of Badal's party has requested legal support from us to fight his case. We will certainly help him without any political bias," Sarna told sources.

The DSGMC, a powerful religious administration regarded as a hub of Sikh affairs in the capital, is set for a three-cornered contest in its general elections due in July.

Sarna, whose party unseated Badal's SAD in the committee's 2002 general elections, also faces opposition from SAD (Panthak) that has challenged the four-year administrative record of the DSGMC controllers.