The surprise decision by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to skip the coming bypolls to four Assembly seats in Punjab has drawn a sharp reaction by the party’s opponents, who are saying it is using an Akal Takht diktat to avoid a likely embarrassing loss.
For its supporters too, the decision to not contest after two abysmal poll performances — three seats in the 2022 Assembly elections, and one in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls — has come as a blow.
One of the constituencies going to the bypolls, which will be held on November 13, is Gidderbaha, from where Badal’s father and Punjab’s tallest politician Parkash Singh Badal began his political journey. The other three are Barnala, Chabbewal and Dera Baba Nanak. All the seats fell vacant after their sitting MLAs won the Lok Sabha polls this year. In at least three, the SAD performance was not bad in the 2022 Assembly polls.
Announcing Thursday that the SAD would not field candidates for the bypolls, following a working committee meeting of the party, spokesperson Daljeet Singh Cheema said: “After the Akal Takht Jathedar’s statement (Wednesday) that Sukhbir Singh Badal cannot take part in any political activity till he completes tankha (punishment), we decided not to contest.”
The Akal Takht declared Badal, who remains the SAD president, a “tankhaiya (or guilty of violating the Sikh religious code of conduct)” on August 30, over “mistakes” during the SAD-BJP government from 2007-2017. A day later, Badal appeared before the Akal Takht and offered his “apology”. However, since then, the Akal Takht has not announced what should be Badal’s punishment.
A meeting regarding this is now scheduled after Diwali.
Incidentally, recently, SAD spokesperson Virsa Singh Valtoha appeared before the Akal Takht on the matter of Badal’s punishment, only to blast the jathedars later and accuse them of being “under the influence of the BJP and RSS” and “hence delaying a decision” on the matter. Valtoha’s harsh words for Giani Harpreet Singh, the Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib, had prompted the latter to offer his resignation, which was later withdrawn.
The SAD had promptly expelled Valtoha.
Speaking to the media, Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said: “The whole sequence of events seems to be scripted, offering the party a chance not to contest the polls, where its candidates would have been unable to even ‘save their deposits’.” Warring also said that Badal appears to be indirectly helping out cousin Manpreet Singh Badal, who is the BJP candidate for the Gidderabaha bypoll — a charge that has been levelled earlier too at the two Badals.
After Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh issued a warning to Warring over his remarks, saying he was questioning the authority of the Akal Takht, the Punjab Congress chief said he was sorry for what he had said.
Cheema said he was not surprised that parties, “especially the Congress”, would say this, as it had “no respect” for the Akal Takht Sahib.
He added: “The decisions taken by our party president (Badal) during the SAD-BJP tenure were on behalf of the party, and hence we have decided to stand by our president. So, even though the Akal Takht Sahib’s directive was only regarding Pradhan Sahib (Badal), the entire party decided we can’t contest the bypolls without the president.”
SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhundar said: “We want to obey the directives of the Akal Takht Sahib and also stand by our party president Sukhbir Badal.”
However, what the SAD can’t wish away is its decline since the 2017 Assembly polls, two years after incidents of “sacrilege” during its government’s tenure which, in turn, prompted the Akali Takht directive against Badal. In 2017, the SAD’s tally fell from 68 seats to 15, with its vote share nearly halving from around 40% to 25.2%.
In the 2022 Assembly polls, its first contest in a long time without an alliance with the BJP, the SAD won only three seats, with a vote share of 18.38%. Out of the three legislators, Banga MLA Sukhwinder Kumar Sukhi joined the Aam Aadmi Party in August, Dakha MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali has been unhappy, while Majitha MLA Ganieve Majithia is the wife of senior SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia.
The SAD’s Lok Sabha record has been no better, with the party winning two seats in 2019, with a vote share of 27.8%, and just one in 2024 with a vote share of 13.42%.
In the Jalandhar West Assembly bypoll held in July this year, the SAD backed a BSP candidate, who got all of 734 votes.
In the four seats going for the bypolls incidentally, the SAD record was better. It finished at the second spot in Gidderbaha in 2022, with Warring winning by just 1,349 votes, and lost Dera Baba Nanak by only 466 votes. It was also placed second in Barnala. Only in Chabbewal, it finished third.
The SAD delegation, including working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, meets Akal Takht Jathedar at his residence in Amritsar on October 22. (Express Photo by Rana Simranjit Singh) 
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