Chandigarh: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday decided that it would not contest the upcoming bypolls for the four seats in Punjab following the recent order of the Akal Takht – the supreme temporal seat of the Sikhs – on SAD chief Sukhbir Badal which declared him “tankhaiya’’ (guilty of religious misconduct) and barred him from contesting elections.
The move came a day after Sukhbir failed to get any temporary relief from the Akal Takht which had declared him “tankhaiya’’ for the “mistakes’’ committed by his party and government during its rule from 2007 to 2017.
Briefing newspersons about the party decision, senior SAD leader Daljit Cheema said that it was felt by the party working committee, district presidents and the constituency incharges that since “the head of the family – party president Sukhbir Badal had been forbidden by Sri Akal Takht to participate in the by-elections, they too could not participate in the exercise’’.
The Akal Takht had declared Sukhbir “tankhaiya’’ on August 30 last for the “mistakes’’, alleged by rebel SAD leaders, which included revocation of the blasphemy case against Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh for imitating Guru Gobind Singh in 2007, the failure to punish perpetrators of the Bargari sacrilege and police officials for the Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing incidents, appointment of controversial IPS officer Sumedh Saini as Punjab DGP besides giving Farzana Alam, the wife of controversial police officer Izhar Alam, the party ticket in the 2012 assembly polls.
The bypolls to the four assembly seats – Gidderbaha, Dera Nanak, Chabbewal and Barnala are scheduled for upcoming November 13 while the results would be out on November 23; these four seats had fallen vacant after the MLAs representing them were elected to the Lok Sabha in June this year.
Thandal Joins BJP
Meanwhile, dealing SAD a jolt, its former minister and four-time MLA Sohan S Thandal joined the BJP on Thursday in presence of former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani in Hoshiarpur. He is likely to be fielded by the saffron party from the Chabbewal (reserved) seat.
