ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the electoral politics of Punjab as has evolved from the vantage point of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the oldest surviving state-level party in India. It is argued that SAD has been the catalyst behind the major shifts in the politics of the post-partition state. Besides being the most successful party, apart from the Congress, since the state’s reorganization in 1966, it has had statewide organizational presence since colonial days. The Panthic party with ideologically committed cadres also receives attention, as it claims to be the legitimate custodian of the Sikh community’s religious and cultural interests whenever they are perceived to be under threat, not just their political interests. Post-militancy, the leadership of Prakash Singh Badal has been instrumental in affecting a critical shift in the SAD agenda as it now seeks support based on its record at the front of development and governance rather than by evoking ethnic issues. Significantly, while SAD has retained its core social constituency of rural Sikhs, it has also succeeded in reaching out to the urban Hindus, including the sizable Dalits, by following a regionalist populist agenda. Its long-standing alliance with the BJP, an urban Hindutva party, has helped the party broaden its support base. Emergence of AAP as the third credible alternative in what has long been a bipolar polity, with the political power remaining either with the Congress or with the SAD-BJP combination, has posed a fresh challenge to the long-entrenched parties, most significantly the SAD, which is no longer an ideologically driven movement party and has had a tacit understanding with the majoritarian community (i.e. Hindus represented by BJP). Thus, it presents an interesting case of research and investigation into the social, cultural and political processes of the state.
