Prem Singh Chandumajra

Prem Singh Chandumajra is a senior Akali leader and a former Member of Parliament for Anandpur Sahib. In mid-2024 he became one of the rebel Akali leaders who challenged Sukhbir Singh Badal's leadership of the Shiromani Akali Dal. In August 2025 he was among the leaders present when the breakaway faction chose Giani Harpreet Singh as its president.

Wikipedia's biography, which cites Parliament of India records and press reports, says he was born on 1 January 1950 at Chandumajra in Patiala district. It says he took an MA in economics and political science at Punjabi University, Patiala, began as an economics lecturer at the Government College in Derabassi, and entered politics through student activism. The same page says he was elected to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha from Dakala in 1985 and served as cooperation minister in the Surjit Singh Barnala government. It says he was elected to the Lok Sabha in 1996, beating Congress's Sant Ram Singla, and in 1998, beating Capt. Amarinder Singh. The page does not name the seat for each year, but Oneindia's profile and the IndiaVotes 1998 results both give it as Patiala. In his 2014 campaign The Tribune quoted him citing two earlier terms in Parliament.

Key moments

• 2014: he won Anandpur Sahib for the Shiromani Akali Dal with 347,394 votes, 23,697 ahead of Congress's Ambika Soni. He opened his campaign at Takht Sri Kesgarh Sahib and said connecting the Takhts at Anandpur Sahib and Amritsar by rail would be his first aim.
• 2019: he lost the seat to Congress's Manish Tewari, by 46,884 votes (381,161 to 428,045).
• 27 June 2024: as a rebel leader he told PTI that the party "is not a personal property of anybody", that the rebels were not seeking the presidency themselves, and that they were working to revive and strengthen the party. He rejected the leadership's claim that they were "frustrated elements sponsored by the BJP".
• 1 July 2024: with Bibi Jagir Kaur, Gurpartap Singh Wadala, Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Sucha Singh Chhotepur, he appeared before Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Raghbir Singh and handed in a letter of apology for "four mistakes" made while the Akali Dal governed from 2007 to 2017. The Tribune names two: failing to hold anyone accountable for the 2015 sacrilege incidents, and withdrawing the 2007 blasphemy case against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.
• 11 August 2025: he attended the delegate session in Amritsar at which a committee appointed by the Akal Takht unanimously chose Giani Harpreet Singh president of the breakaway faction. Giani Harpreet Singh said its aims included the release of Bandi Singhs, free SGPC elections, a panel to pursue desecration cases and a single committee to frame rules for appointing jathedars.

The breakaway leaders call their body the real Akali Dal and plan to seek recognition from the Election Commission. The Badal-led party, for its part, has said the rebels are working for the BJP, a charge Chandumajra denied.