SAD Announces Door-to-Door Campaign from Oct 6, Sukhbir Badal’s Statewide Bus Yatra from Nov 10

The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) on Thursday announced its campaign schedule for the forthcoming Punjab Assembly elections, including a door-to-door outreach drive beginning October 6, a statewide bus yatra led by party president Sukhbir Singh Badal from November 10 and the release of its election manifesto on November 1.

The door-to-door campaign will be launched by Sukhbir Badal from Attari and conducted simultaneously across all Assembly constituencies. The party said the exercise would gather public suggestions for its election manifesto and would be completed by October 25.

Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal will launch the second phase of the party’s women-led anti-drug campaign from Sri Muktsar Sahib on October 5. The movement, carrying the slogan “Maawan-Dheeyan di Lalkaar, Band Karo Nasha da Vyapar”, aims to reach households across Punjab.

The SAD has also scheduled a statewide bus yatra led by Sukhbir Badal, beginning from Talwandi Sabo on November 10. The party said he would cover two to three Assembly constituencies each day as part of the mass-contact programme.

A large public rally will be held on December 8 at Killi Chahlan village in Moga to mark the birth anniversary of former Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

The announcements were made at a press conference by senior SAD leaders Balwinder Singh Bhundar and Dr Daljit Singh Cheema. They said the campaign decisions were taken at a meeting of constituency in-charges and observers chaired by Sukhbir Badal.

The leaders said the party’s manifesto committee had already held consultations with its Scheduled Caste and Backward Caste wings and would also seek suggestions from farmers, traders, youth and government employees to shape its proposed action plan for Punjab.

Dr Cheema also announced a 10-member lawyers’ committee to monitor what the party described as false, baseless and defamatory content about the SAD and its leaders in the media and on social media. Advocate Amardeep Singh Dharni will head the committee in consultation with party chief spokesperson Arshdeep Singh Kler.

In a separate statement, Bhundar criticised the Centre’s Rs 25 increase in the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat, taking it to Rs 2,610. He said the increase did not adequately account for rising agricultural input costs and described it as the lowest absolute hike in 17 years. He urged the Union government to reconsider the decision, citing what he called an unprecedented crisis in the agriculture sector.