Amritsar, Apr 12 (PTI) Sukhbir Singh Badal on Saturday returned to the helm of the Shiromani Akali Dal with his election as president of the Punjab-based party which has been reeling from a series of crushing losses and a shrinking vote share.

The 62-year-old former deputy chief minister was first elected the party president in 2008. His re-election at the outfit’s general delegate session in Amritsar comes barely four months after he quit after he was declared ‘tankhaiya’ (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht for “mistakes” committed by the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and its government from 2007 to 2017.

He had survived an assassination attempt by a former Khalistani terrorist at Amritsar’s Golden Temple while performing sewa (service) as penance in December last year.

“I thank all for entrusting me with this responsibility. I promise the people that Punjab will again be turned into a number one state,” Badal said after the party’s election officer, Gulzar Singh Ranike, declared his name as the new president.

Badal, the son of late party patriarch Parkash Singh Badal, was the only candidate for the post of SAD president.

The session for electing SAD’s new president was held at the Teja Singh Samundari hall in the Sri Darbar Sahib complex in Amritsar. Badal’s name was proposed by the party’s working president, Balwinder Singh Bhundar, while party leaders Paramjit Singh Sarna and Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal seconded it.

Several senior party leaders, including Badal’s wife and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, former minister Bikram Singh Majithia and Daljit Singh Cheema, were present.

In 2007, SAD formed the government in alliance with the BJP and they retained power in 2012. But in 2017, Congress wrested power. The Akali Dal’s tally was reduced to 15 and Aam Aadmi Party became the main opposition.

The party suffered its worst defeat in Punjab in 2022, winning only three seats out of 117, while the AAP came to power in the state for the first time.

The Badal-led SAD faced another drubbing in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls as it managed to win only the Bathinda parliamentary constituency out of a total of 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab. The SAD also saw a drop in its vote share from 27.45 per cent in 2019 to 13.42 per cent in 2024 polls.

On November 16, 2024, Badal tendered his resignation from the party president post after he was found guilty of religious misconduct by the Akal Takht for “mistakes” committed by the SAD and its government from 2007 to 2017.

In January this year, his resignation was accepted by the working committee of the party. The SAD, later, conducted the new membership drive.

Badal was declared ‘tankhaiya’ after rebel party leaders including Prem Singh Chandumajra, former SGPC Jagir Kaur and other leaders had appeared before the Akal Takht on July 1, 2024, and sought forgiveness for four “mistakes” during the Shiromani Akali Dal regime between 2007 and 2017, including failure to punish those responsible for 2015 sacrilege incidents and pardoning Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in a 2007 blasphemy case.

The Akal Takht on December 2 last year pronounced religious punishment for Sukhbir Singh Badal and other leaders in the matter. PTI JMS CHS VSD RT RT