Akali Dal banks on Panthic issues to get vote share back

Jupinderjit Singh

Chandigarh, May 6

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) is trying to re-establish trust and connect with the masses by seeking votes in the name of being their “true” representative.

While terming rival parties “outsiders”, the SAD leadership hopes that people forget the issues of drug menace, gangsterism and sacrilege incidents which allegedly happened during their tenure.

The Akali Dal, which had won two consecutive Assembly elections in 2007 and 2012, had started influencing poll arena in Delhi, Haryana and Rajasthan but was relegated to the sidelines in Punjab. The party could bag only 15 out of the 117 seats in the 2017 Assembly poll, which further reduced to mere three seats in the 2022 Vidhan Sabha elections.

This downfall even continued in the 2019 General Election as SAD managed to win only two seats. In 2014, the Akali Dal had won four of the 13 Lok Sabha seats.

In September 2020, SAD snapped ties with the BJP, following the farmers’ stir against the three new farm laws. In the 2023 Jalandhar bypoll, AAP had a vote share of 34.05 per cent while SAD and the BJP had 17.85 per cent and 15.19 per cent vote share, respectively. Together they polled more than 33 per cent votes.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha poll, SAD and the BJP’s candidates are pitted against each other as both the parties failed to strike an alliance.

As part of the poll strategy, the SAD leadership has termed itself a protector of regional rights and Panthic issues of the Sikhs to win over its traditional vote bank.

The party is trying to convince the farming community that it left the alliance with the BJP to protect the rights of farmers.

Sources said any party which holds its traditional vote bank together could win a multi-cornered contest.

Moreover, it’s the first poll which the party is fighting under the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal. His father and former CM Parkash Singh Badal had passed away in 2023.

Though Sukhbir has been able to get senior leaders — former MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and former SGPC chief Jagir Kaur — back into the party fold, he has not let anyone underscore his authority. As the SAD chief did not buckle under pressure to give Sangrur seat to the Dhindsa family, the Lok Sabha poll would be a litmus test for him.

All 13 in the fray

Daljit Singh Cheema from Gurdaspur; Anil Joshi, Amritsar; Virsa Singh Valtoha, Khadoor Sahib; Mohinder Singh Kaypee, Jalandhar; Sohan Singh Thandal, Hoshiarpur; Prem Singh Chandumajra, Anandpur Sahib; Ranjit Singh Dhillon, Ludhiana; Bikramjit Singh Khalsa, Fatehgarh Sahib; Rajwinder Singh, Faridkot; Nardev Singh Mann, Ferozepur; Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Bathinda; Iqbal Singh Jhundan, Sangrur and NK Sharma, Patiala