Punjab: As SAD, BJP Inch Closer to a Tie-up, Differences Remain over Seat Sharing Proportion

New Delhi: Despite public statements to the contrary, especially from senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders like B.L. Santosh, the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) are working overtime, behind-the-scenes to stitch a pre-poll alliance for next year’s Punjab assembly elections.

While the two sides are working out the contours of the tie-up, the sticking point seems to be the number of seats each side would contest. 

Two days ago, BJP’s national general secretary (Organisation) Santosh said the saffron party was fully prepared to contest all 117 seats and would form the government in Punjab on its own. 

However, ground reality has ensured that both parties remain in touch with each other, via trusted back-channels, to reach “some kind of understanding” before the elections. 

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) President Sukhbir Singh Badal visits flood-affected villages and interacts with locals, in Patiala, Punjab on September 5, 2025.Photo: PTI.

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The BJP, despite its recent focus on wooing the Jat Sikh voters, especially through “imported” leaders like current Punjab unit chief Kewal Singh Dhillon and recently-appointed national vice president Manpreet Singh Badal, understands that it remains a minor player in the state, where it can’t make inroads without the crutches of a Panthic, cadre-based party like the SAD (Badal).

The Sukhbir Badal-led SAD (Badal), which has witnessed a sharp erosion of its core, mainly-agrarian Sikh, vote bank in recent years over charges of corruption and alleged involvement of its senior leaders in the drug trade, has also come to the conclusion that it needs a tie-up with the BJP if it wants a real shot at winning the state where it was last in power in 2017. 

In the 2022 assembly election, when the two allies fought separately and in alliance with other parties, both lost vote share drastically, with the SAD (Badal) winning just three seats even as its chief Sukhbir Badal lost from his stronghold of Jalalabad to Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)’s Jagdeep Kamboj by over 30,000 votes. 

The BJP, which contested in alliance with Capt Amarinder Singh’s Punjab Lok Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (Sanyukt), also did badly, winning just two seats. 

“Things are no different now. Both parties know that despite attempts by them to corner the ruling AAP as well as de-stablise the opposition Congress, voters still remain wary of them. Kewal Dhillon [BJP state president] is not even a pale shadow of Capt Amarinder Singh and when somebody of the stature of Amarinder could do nothing for the BJP, what can we expect from Dhillon. Both have no option but to join hands and fight the elections together. Imported leaders like Manpreet Badal [a cousin of Sukhbir Badal] and Dhillon have little support among the voters. Together, the two parties may perform better though nobody can say with certainty if they will win enough seats to form the government,” says a former SAD (Badal) leader, who has fallen out with the Badal family. 

The SAD (Badal) and the BJP were long-time allies, contesting every election in a pre-poll alliance for over three decades. 

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal addresses the media, in Nanded, Maharashtra on August 16, 2026. Photo: PTI.

But, in 2020, the two allies had a parting of ways, fuelled by sharp differences over the three contentious farm laws brought by the Narendra Modi government. While initially, the SAD (Badal), speaking through Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Sukhbir Badal’s wife and party MP from Bathinda, who was a minister in the Modi cabinet, supported the three laws, the party soon realised the perils of continuing to support them due to large-scale protests against them in Punjab and elsewhere.

Thereafter, Harsimrat did not remain part of the government for long. But the damage was done and the party suffered a severe electoral backlash in the 2022 assembly and 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

While the BJP gambled on the Hindu vote, even that proved to be a mirage and the party soon realised that, barring a small section of urban Hindi voters, Punjab Hindus and Sikhs think and vote alike. 

“That is why both parties are trying to come to a tie-up,” said a SAD (Badal) leader, who spoke to this reporter on condition of anonymity. 

However, the main bone of contention between the two erstwhile partners is who contests how many seats. 

In 2017 assembly elections, the last time the two contested together, the Akali Dal contested on 94 seats while the BJP had to contend with just 23. Now, the BJP wants to be the bigger partner. 

Sources suggest that the BJP is of the view that SAD (Badal) is no longer the significant player that it was earlier and, therefore, wants more seats than the Akali party. 

Sources close to the Akali leadership, however, say that the party is of the opinion that BJP “doesn’t even have enough, winnable candidates for the number of the seats it wants to contest”. 

“The BJP may want to contest all 117 seats. But, is will find it difficult to find good candidates even for 35-40 seats. Our opinion is that should be satisfied if it gets 40-odd seats in the alliance. Anything more and it would be problematic for both the partners,” said the person cited above. 

Akali Dal insiders also suggest that the party is yet to check the temperature of whether its core vote bank would react to the likely tie-up. “We are working on it. But, it is impossible to predict such a thing accurately,” the leader said. 

Asked if the two parties could even opt for a post-poll tie-up, another Akali leader replied, “It is all speculation. While, as of today, both sides want an alliance, especially after Prime Minister Modi’s recent meeting with Sukhbir Badal ji, a concrete proposal is still in the works. Want and watch.” 

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