Too early to write off SAD, party stays in reckoning

A sustained well-oiled election campaign has aided the century-old beleaguered Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to stay in the reckoning in poll-bound Punjab.

The SAD, which kick-started its poll campaign much before others did, has managed some traction with just a day left for polling. The Akali Dal has a well-rooted strong party cadre at the grassroots which provides hope to its electoral prospects.

The SAD, which has formed an alliance with Mayawati-led BSP for the February 20 poll, is in fact likely to better its performance this time. The last election in 2017 was SAD’s worst performance when it ended up with just 15 seats in the assembly of 117 MLAs. The SAD has suffered on account of the blemish of sacrilege and the drug taint on Bikram Majithia, the brother of former union minister Harsimran Kaur.

However, the SAD top leadership led by SAD president Sukhbir Badal hasn’t shied away from talking about these contentious issues in the public domain. The SAD severed its 23-years of alliance with the BJP over the contentious three farm laws. Its lone minister in Modi’s cabinet, Harsimran Kaur, resigned in protest.

The Akali Dal would reap the electoral dividend from the political mileage it got with the BJP contesting 23 seats as its ally, essentially in urban areas. The challenge now for the SAD is to consolidate its position in Hindu dominated urban areas where its former ally would have a groundswell. This Panthic party with its base shrinking among urban voters and Hindus has this time fielded 12 Hindu faces.

The SAD has also strategized its position to plug the outreach of the AAP in the electorally crucial Malwa region which has a majority of the 69 seats. The Akalis’ have fielded 26 new faces (28 per cent of the total SAD nominees), more than the Congress and the AAP.

The AAP in its debut assembly poll in 2017 managed to win a huge chunk of Jat Sikh votes in the Malwa region (30 per cent) from the SAD kitty. The presence of party patriarch, 94-year-old Parkash Singh Badal as a candidate in the poll fray too has made a difference for the party. The Akali Dal has tried to offset its losses by forging an alliance with the BSP, in wake of the party deciding to snap ties with the BJP.

Dalit’s constitute a sizable 32 per cent of the state’s population. However, it’s unlikely that the BSP will be able to galvanize the SC votes in Punjab since the Dalit and their plentiful sub-castes do not vote homogenously. Besides, all parties, like the Congress leading the way with a Dalit CM and CM face, have offered enough doles to capitalize on the Dalit votes in the state.

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