Panth Rattan Shiri Gurcharan Singh Tohra was a president of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC),a Sikh body in charge of controlling Gurdwara. He died of a heart attack in New Delhi on 1 April 2004 at the age of 79. He remained the head of the SGPC for a record 27 years,and was one of the most influential and controversial Sikh leaders of the 20th century.
Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) is a hard-line Sikh nationalist political party led by Simranjit Singh Mann,it is a splinter group of the Shiromani Akali Dal in Punjab,India. They use 'Balti',the Punjabi term for bucket as their official election symbol. Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) was formed on 1 May 1994. The party has seen a resurgence in support after the deaths of Deep Sidhu and Sidhu Moose Wala who were supporters and seen as sympathetic to the cause of Simranjit Singh Mann. Their 2022 Lok Sabha victory after more than two decades has been viewed as a resurgence in a political vacuum due to collapse of other traditional political parties in Punjab. The last major victory for Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) was in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections,where the party and their allies won 10 out of 13 seats from Punjab.
Simranjit Singh Mann is a former Indian Police Service officer and a former Member of the Parliament in the Lok Sabha,the lower house of the Parliament of India,representing the constituency of Sangrur since 2022. He lost elections in 2024 and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer became new member of parliament. He is the president of the political party Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar). Mann has served three-times as an MP;once from Taran Tarn between 1989 and 1991,and twice from Sangrur between 1999-2004 and since 2022. He is a known Khalistani supporter and his party is known for their pro-Khalistan stances.
Sardar Hukam Singh was an Indian politician and the third Speaker of the Lok Sabha and second Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha from 1962 to 1967. He was also governor of Rajasthan from 1967 to 1972.
Charanjit Singh Atwal is an Indian politician who was Deputy Speaker of the 14th Lok Sabha of India from 2004 to 2009. He represented the Phillaur constituency of Punjab in the 14th Lok Sabha and is a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) political party.
Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa is a member of the Rajya Sabha. He was the former President of Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt),which was formed by the merger of Shiromani Akali Dal (Democratic) and Shiromani Akali Dal (Taksali) led by him and Ranjit Singh Brahampura respectively. He returned to the Shiromani Akali Dal political party by merging his party back into it in March 2024. He was previously a member of 14th Lok Sabha of India,representing the Sangrur constituency of Punjab. He has been awarded the Padma Bhushan in the awards list of 26 January 2019. However,he returned it in December 2020 during the farmer protests.
Politics in reorganised present-day Punjab is dominated by mainly three parties –Indian National Congress,Aam Aadmi Party and Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal). Since 1967,Chief Minister of Punjab has been predominantly from Jat Sikh community despite its 21 percent state population. Exceptions are Giani Zail Singh,the Chief Minister of Punjab from 17 March 1972 to 30 April 1977 belonging to Ramgarhia community that has population of 6 percent and is a part of significant OBC community having population of 31.3 percent in the state and Charanjit Singh Channi who held the position for 111 days from 20 September 2021 to 16 March 2022 and was from Scheduled Caste(Dalit) who have 32 percent population in the state. Other prominent party is Bahujan Samaj Party especially in Doaba region founded by Kanshi Ram of Rupnagar district. In 1992 BSP won 9 seats Vidhan Sabha elections. Also BSP won 3 lok sabha seats from Punjab in 1996 general elections and only Garhshanker seat in 1997 Vidhan Sabha elections. Communist parties too have some influence in the Malwa area. In the 2014 general elections,the first-time contesting Aam Aadmi Party got 4 out of 13 seats in Punjab by winning 34 of the total 117 assembly segments,coming second in 7,third in 73 and fourth in the rest 3 segments. The support for the Aam Aadmi Party increased later in Punjab. The current Government was elected in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections and the AAP won 92 out of 117 Assembly seats with Bhagwant Mann as the Chief Minister. The Congress flows down to get only 18 seats.
Balwant Singh Ramoowalia is an Indian politician from Samajwadi Party. His father Karnail Singh Paras was a well-known Kavishar. Balwant Singh started his political career with student politics as a general secretary of Student Federation of India in 1963. He went on to join All India Sikh Students' Federation and was its president from 1968 to 1972. Later he joined Akali Dal and became Member of Parliament twice from Faridkot and Sangrur. He left Akali Dal to get elected to Rajya Sabha in 1996 and served as the Union Minister for Social Welfare.
Prem Singh Chandumajra is General Secretary and spokesman of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and former Member of Parliament from Anandpur Sahib and former constituency MP from Patiala seat. He is also an alumnus of Punjabi University,Patiala. He was a Member of Parliament in 11th,12th and now of 16th Lok Sabha. He won with a low margin from Himmat Singh Shergill and Ambika Soni,who put up a tough fight.
Harsimrat Kaur Badal is an Indian politician and a former Union Cabinet Minister of Food Processing Industries in the Government of India and Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Bathinda. She is a member of Shiromani Akali Dal Party. Her husband Sukhbir Singh Badal is former deputy chief minister of Punjab and the president of Shiromani Akali Dal. She resigned from the cabinet on 17 September 2020 to protest against few farmer related ordinances and legislation.
Mohinder Singh Kaypee,is an Indian politician and member of Shiromani Akali Dal. Before,he was politically affiliated with the Indian National Congress. He is a Shiromani Akali Dal Candidate for Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency for the 2024 Indian general election.
Sher Singh Ghubaya is an Indian politician who is a member of the Lok Sabha,elected from Firozpur constituency of Punjab in 2009 and 2014,as a member of Akali Dal. He was also elected to 18th Lok Sabha from Firozpur. He is currently a member of the Indian National Congress. In March 2019,he left Shiromani Akali Dal and joined the Indian National Congress.
Balwinder Singh Bhunder is an Indian politician,former member of the Rajya Sabha,from the state of Punjab,and is the Working President of Shiromani Akali Dal.
Parminder Singh Dhindsa is an Indian politician and belongs to the Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt) Political Party. He was a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal until late 2019. He is currently MLA from Lehra and was leader of Shiromani Akali Dal Legislature group in Punjab Legislative Assembly until he quit. He was Minister for Finance &Planning (2012–2017) and Minister for Public Works (B&R) (2007–2012) in the previous Punjab Government. He is son of Rajya Sabha member Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa. He was first elected as MLA of Sunam in September 2000 by defeating Parmeshwari Devi of Congress during the by-election. He was re-elected as an MLA for the fifth consecutive term in 2017 with his tenure since 2000 to 2012 from Sunam and from 2017 onwards from Lehra Constituency. He is triumphant in his entire career since 2000.
Harinder Singh Khalsa is an Indian politician. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from Bathinda during 1996-98 as a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal. In 2014,he joined the Aam Aadmi Party and was elected as an MP from Fatehgarh Sahib. He joined Bharatiya Janata Party in March 2019 but left the party in December 2020 to give his support to 2020–2021 Indian farmers' protest.
Ranjit Singh Brahmpura was an Indian politician who was a Member of Parliament,Lok Sabha for Khadoor Sahib constituency,he won the 2014 Indian general election being a Shiromani Akali Dal candidate. He is often referred to as Majhe Da Jarnail. He has previously served as Cabinet Minister in Government of Punjab twice,and MLA four times in Punjab. He was a part of the Shiromani Akali Dal led by Sukhbir Singh Badal until 2019 when he left the party,fighting injustice and for what he believed was right. On 23 December 2021,he rejoined Shiromani Akali Dal.
Sukhbir Singh Badal is an Indian politician and businessman who served twice as the Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab and is currently the president of Shiromani Akali Dal,and was a member of Parliament from the Firozpur Lok Sabha constituency. He is the son of Parkash Singh Badal,who has served five times as the Chief Minister of Punjab. He is influential over the Sikh organisations of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee. Badal and his family have ownership stakes in an array of businesses- including real estate,transport and other activities.
Rajinder Kaur Bulara is a politician of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Mann) group and was a member of the 9th Lok Sabha.
Amrik Singh Aliwal is a grassroots Indian politician who started his political innings as the Sarpanch of Village Aliwal which falls in District Ludhiana. He was imprisoned for six months in 1994 for an agitation regarding democratic rights of the people. He was elected to the Lok Sabha,the lower house of the Parliament of India as a member of the Shiromani Akali Dal and remained the Lok Sabha member from Ludhiana for two terms. On 14 December 2021,he joined Punjab Lok Congress.
Jasbir Singh Gill (Dimpa) is an Indian politician and was a Member of Parliament to the 17th Lok Sabha from Khadoor Sahib (Lok Sabha constituency) of Punjab,India. He won the Indian general election 2019 as an Indian National Congress candidate. In the year 2002 he was elected to the Punjab Legislative Assembly from Beas constituency. In December 2020,he was in an issue with young female reporter questioning him about the farmers' protest live on TV.
