SAD Sudhar Lehar

The Shiromani Akali Dal (Sudhar Lehar), or reform movement, was a revolt by senior Akali leaders against Sukhbir Singh Badal's leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in 2024. It lasted about six months as a named body and was dissolved on the Akal Takht's direction.

How it began: after the SAD's poor Lok Sabha result in June 2024, about 60 senior leaders rebelled and asked Sukhbir Badal to step down. They met at Paragpur village near Jalandhar and then in Jalandhar on 25 June. The Tribune names Prem Singh Chandumajra, Sikandar Singh Maluka, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, Surjit Singh Rakhra, Sarwan Singh Phillaur, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Charanjit Singh Brar and Gurpartap Singh Wadala among them. Wadala, a different person from Bhai Baldev Singh Wadala, later appears as the movement's convener. Sukhbir called the revolt a conspiracy by enemies of the Panth and Punjab.

Key moments

• 1 July 2024: the dissidents gave the Akal Takht a letter admitting mistakes by the party, and accusing Sukhbir of breaking the Takht's 2007 edict against the Dera Sacha Sauda chief. Their stated mistakes included the 2015 pardon of the Dera chief and the failure to punish those behind sacrilege.
• 30 July 2024: the SAD disciplinary committee, headed by Balwinder Singh Bhundur, expelled eight of them for "anti-party activities": Bibi Jagir Kaur, Chandumajra, Wadala, Dhindsa, Maluka, Rakhra, Surinder Singh Thekedar and Brar.
• 30 August 2024: the Akal Takht declared Sukhbir tankhaiya.
• 2 December 2024: the Akal Takht's edict told the rebels to unite and strengthen the SAD. A committee headed by SGPC president Harjinder Singh Dhami, with Wadala as a member, was to enrol members and delegates and hold party elections within six months.
• 9 December 2024: at a meeting in Amritsar the rebels dissolved the Sudhar Lehar in line with the edict. Wadala said it "has been dissolved officially today".
• 10 January 2025: the SAD accepted Sukhbir's resignation, 55 days after he submitted it, but rejected the Takht's panel, saying a religious body cannot run a party under its own constitution. Wadala said the resignation came "too late". In April 2025 the Badal-led SAD re-elected Sukhbir president.
• 11 August 2025: the Takht-appointed committee unanimously elected Giani Harpreet Singh, former acting Jathedar of the Akal Takht, president of a breakaway faction at Gurdwara Burj Akali Phoola Singh, Amritsar. 478 of 528 delegates took part. Bibi Satwant Kaur became chair of its Panthic Council. The faction calls itself the "real" SAD and plans to seek Election Commission recognition.

Where it stands: the Sudhar Lehar no longer exists as a body. The Badal-led SAD and the Takht-backed faction both claim the Akali name.