Punjab: Takht-appointed committee invites Sukhbir to join joint election process
Gives SAD chief one-month window to respond; elections will involve delegates from both Akal Takht panel and SAD’s recent reorganisation
A committee formed by the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, has invited Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal to take part in the election of office-bearers for the party, to be elected within a month.
The rebel faction of the SAD plans to elect 500 delegates, nearly the same number as the delegates of the SAD led by Sukhbir.
“We are in the process of finalising the list of members. After that we will announce the delegates, three to four from all 117 assembly constituencies in the state,” said Manpreet Singh Ayali, a leader of the rebel faction and one of the five members in the committee constituted by the Akal Takht on December 2 last year, to enrol members for the SAD and hold election of office-bearers.
The Akal Takht’s December 2, 2024, decree not only awarded tankhah (religious punishment) to Sukhbir and other SAD leaders for mistakes committed by the party and its government from 2007-2017 on the complaint of rebel party leaders, but also directed the SAD working committee to accept his resignation as SAD president, besides constituting a seven-member committee to initiate a recruitment drive and elect new office-bearers in six months.
However, the Sukhbir faction initiated a recruitment drive under a SAD working committee, citing legalities. It was termed as violation of the decree. Despite criticism, the Sukhbir faction continued the drive. The panel faced a setback after its coordinator Harjinder Singh Dhami and member Kirpal Singh Badungar quit.
“We have already enrolled 12 lakh members, with an additional 14 lakh pending verification. After this, we will proceed with electing the delegates, who will then vote to elect the party’s office-bearers, including the president,” Ayali said.
The committee has given Sukhbir a one-month window to respond to their invitation and take part in the joint election process involving delegates from both the Akal Takht committee and the SAD’s recent reorganisation.
The Akal Takht-appointed committee has also expanded its membership campaign beyond Punjab, reaching out to Haryana, Chandigarh and even international communities. “The response has been overwhelmingly positive, both domestically and abroad,” Ayali noted. “We are currently in the process of counting the total number of enrollments.”
The committee’s key members include Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Iqbal Singh Jhundan, Bibi Satwant Kaur and Santa Singh Umaidpur.
While the Akal Takht committee has extended the invitation, SAD leaders have chosen not to comment until they receive a formal communication. “We have reorganised the party, and Sukhbir Singh Badal was unanimously re-elected as president in April 2023,” a senior SAD leader said. “There is no basis for a re-election at this point.”
Sukhbir’s journey as the SAD president has been marked by ups and downs. He was first elected to the position in 2008 and was re-elected for a fourth term in April 2023, making him the longest-serving and youngest president in the party’s 104-year history.
However, Sukhbir resigned from his post in November 2023 following a ruling by the Akal Takht, which declared him guilty of religious misconduct due to alleged actions of the party and its government between 2007 and 2017. His resignation was officially accepted in January 2024.
Sukhbir survived an assassination attempt in December 2023 by a former Khalistani terrorist while performing sewa at Amritsar’s Golden Temple. When Sukhbir was out of the post of the party president, Balwinder Singh Bhundar was the working president, who now is number 2 in the party as secretary general.
