Punjab bypoll: Sukhbir can't be part of poll activity yet, says Takht
Akal Takht has dashed all hopes of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) after jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh clarified that the party head, Sukhbir Singh Badal, could not be permitted to participate in any political activity till ‘tankhah’ (religious punishment) is pronounced upon him and he complied with it.
The bypoll has been scheduled for November 13, and the deadline for the nomination is October 25.
The SAD has convened an emergency meeting of Working Committee & District Presidents of the party at 1200 hours tomorrow October 24 at party head office in Chandigarh. The current political situation will be discussed in detail in the meeting. It will be presided over by Working…
— Dr Daljit S Cheema (@drcheemasad) October 23, 2024
On the sidelines of a programme, the jathedar, while talking to the media, said under the definition of ‘tankhaiah’, one could not be forgiven till the ‘tankhah’ is pronounced upon from the ‘faseel’ (podium) of Akal Takht and the guilty abides by it.
The decision on Sukhbir’s case is still pending for want of assembly of the five high priests to decide the quantum of ‘tankhah’.
“No relaxation could be given till a ‘tankhaiah’ takes on ‘tankhah’ successfully. The five high priests’ meeting would be scheduled after Diwali,” he said.
On August 30, the high priests, headed by Akal Takht jathedar, had declared Sukhbir ‘tankhaiah’ , while indicting him of religious misconduct for controversial decisions taken during the party’s tenure between 2007 and 2017, when he was holding the portfolio of Home Ministry and the Deputy CM.
On Tuesday, a party delegation had approached the jathedar, seeking nod to let the party contest the upcoming bypoll under the leadership of Sukhbir, but he had reserved his verdict.
The delegation, including SAD working president Balwinder Singh Bhunder, party chief spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kler and former ministers Dr Daljit Singh Cheema, Gulzar Singh Ranike, Maheshinder Singh Garewal and Janmeja Singh Sekhon, held a closed-door discussion with the jathedar at his residence in the Golden Temple complex, Amritsar.
A victory in the Gidderbaha bypoll was being anticipated as a repeat of history for the revival of the SAD. In 1995, after the victory in the Gidderbaha bypoll, the SAD had formed the government in 1997.
There were reports that the party was inclined to field Sukhbir in the forthcoming Gidderbaha bypoll — the Assembly segment his father and Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal represented for five consecutive terms from 1969 to 1985, and later shifted their focus to the Lambi constituency.
Earlier, Dr Cheema, after meeting the jathedar, had stated that “pardhan sahib (Sukhbir) had already appeared at Akal Takht the next day he was declared ‘tankhaiah’, and had urged it to pronounce the ‘tankhah’, but the high priests could not assemble yet."
