SAD announces organisational polls

Chandigarh: The ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) party in Punjab is gearing up to hold organisational polls to elect new office-bearers, party officials said on Wednesday.

Announcing this here, SAD secretary and spokesman Daljit Singh Cheema said that the organisational poll process would begin on August 1 and culminate on the 30th of that month with a general delegates session to elect the party president and other office bearers. Meetings for the selection of delegates at the circle, district and state levels would be held between August 1 to 10, Cheema said. The last intra-party polls in the SAD was held on January 31, 2008, when Sukhbir Singh Badal was unanimously elected president. A recruitment drive to enroll primary members into SAD, which began on March 25, has successfully concluded, Cheema added. "Observers appointed by the party have been requested to complete the necessary formalities and submit the final list of delegates by August 14," Cheema said. A total of 445 delegates are elected at the state level in Punjab. The party also recruits members from Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and has members at the international level as well, Cheema said. PTI