After losing Sangrur by-election, what now for the SAD(B)?

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It was Shiromani Akali Dal - Badal SAD(B)’s big decision to take up the issue of the release of ‘Bandi Singhs’ (Sikh prisoners) for its own political revival after the party’s near route in the last assembly elections but the party’s trump card also wrecked after it's so called ‘Panthic’ candidate Kamladeep Kaur Rajoana, sister of former Punjab chief minister Beant Singh assassination case convict Balwant Singh Rajona (one of the Sikh prisoner), lost her security deposit in the Sangrur parliamentary by-elections.

Though SAD(B) claimed that Kamaldeep Kaur Rajoana was the joint Panthic candidate but even before the elections the fissures among the Panthic candidates appeared after the president of SAD(A) Simranjit Singh Mann filed his nomination papers from the Sangrur parliamentary elections which came as a big jolt to Sukhbir Singh Badal led SAD(B) who had initiated the ‘unification’ drive and had even held a meeting at Teja Singh Samundari Hall at Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) complex to put up a joint face before public.

The election results surprised everyone when Simranjit Singh Mann was declared the winner and even more surprising was the near rejection of joint Panthic candidate Kamaldeep Kaur Rajoana who has polled only 44428 votes as against the winner candidate Mann who was polled 270722 votes. The more surprising was that BJP candidate Kewal Singh Dhillon polled 66298 votes.

The downfall of SAD(B) began in the 2017 assembly elections. The Akali party had bagged 56 seats in the 2012 assembly election but came down to just  15 seats in the 2017 assembly elections and now the party has shrunk to its lowest tally of 3 seats in the 2022 assembly elections giving a major blow to even its most ‘seasoned’ and ‘experienced’ candidates who had to face defeat.

It’s a known fact that SAD(B) rules the SGPC by proxy and even uses its influence during the appointment of Sikh high priests. The issueless party came up with the idea of evoking sentiments by taking up the issue of the release of Sikh prisoners even as it failed to secure their release when the party was in power in Punjab with its former  alliance partner BJP in power in the Center.