Akali Dal forms 6-member panel to pick candidates for upcoming polls
The decision comes amid a rebellion by a section of the party leaders, who had demanded the party president’s resignation over successive poll debacles starting from 2017 assembly polls to recent Lok Sabha elections wherein the party won only the Bathinda seat and lost deposits on 10 Parliamentary segments.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Wednesday constituted a six-member parliamentary board with a mandate to select candidates for future elections, including the Lok Sabha polls, state assembly polls and other elections for local civic bodies and rural panchayats.
Announcing the party’s decision, vice-president Daljit Singh Cheema in a post on X (formerly Twitter) said that the party president Sukhbir Singh Badal took the decision on Wednesday.
The board will have five members including Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Maheshinder Singh Grewal, Gulzar Singh Ranike, Daljit Singh Cheema and Hira Singh Gabria with the party’s secretary general Balwinder Singh Bhundar as a chairman.
“There was a long pending demand for setting up a parliamentary board to have a decentralised system in place for selecting the party candidates for the electoral contests at the different levels, so the party head made the announcement”, Cheema said. He added that the party in the past used to have a parliamentary board, and it’s not a new thing
The decision comes amid a rebellion by a section of the party leaders, who had demanded the party president’s resignation over successive poll debacles starting from 2017 assembly polls to recent Lok Sabha elections wherein the party won only the Bathinda seat and lost deposits on 10 Parliamentary segments.
{{/usCountry}}The decision comes amid a rebellion by a section of the party leaders, who had demanded the party president’s resignation over successive poll debacles starting from 2017 assembly polls to recent Lok Sabha elections wherein the party won only the Bathinda seat and lost deposits on 10 Parliamentary segments.
{{/usCountry}}The party faces a threat of vertical split after patron Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was expelled last week for siding with the rebels.
{{/usCountry}}The party faces a threat of vertical split after patron Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa was expelled last week for siding with the rebels.
{{/usCountry}}Before that, the party had expelled eight senior leaders, including former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur, a former MP, three ex-ministers, two ex-MLAs and a political secretary of the party president.
{{/usCountry}}Before that, the party had expelled eight senior leaders, including former SGPC president Bibi Jagir Kaur, a former MP, three ex-ministers, two ex-MLAs and a political secretary of the party president.
{{/usCountry}}Today’s decision is being seen as a step towards course correction by the party which is facing flak from within over its fast-eroding political base.
{{/usCountry}}Today’s decision is being seen as a step towards course correction by the party which is facing flak from within over its fast-eroding political base.
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