Chandigarh, Apr 10 (PTI) Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa has written to the Election Commission of India, urging it to direct the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) to suspend its election process alleging "lack of transparency in membership data and intraparty conflict".

His letter drew sharp reaction from the SAD leadership, which alleged that Randhawa did so on the directions of party leaders Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge in league with the rebel Akali faction.

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The SAD would hold the general delegate session to elect its new president at the Teja Singh Samundari hall in the Sri Darbar Sahib complex in Amritsar on April 12.

Earlier in November last year, Sukhbir Singh Badal had tendered his resignation as the party president after he was declared 'tankhaiya' (guilty of religious misconduct) by the Akal Takht for "mistakes" committed by the SAD and its government from 2007 to 2017.

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Badal's resignation was accepted by the party's working committee in January this year. The SAD later conducted the new membership drive.

The Congress MP alleged the SAD's announcement of conducting the election of the party president raises "serious legal and procedural concerns".

Randhawa alleged no details have been publicly released regarding the "outcome of its recent membership drive-whether at the circle, district or state level".

"Even the macro-level data regarding the number of enrolled members and total membership fees collected remains undisclosed. There is no clarity on the bank accounts into which these funds have been deposited," he said in his April 9 letter to the Election Commission.

According to the SAD's constitution, the Congress MP said the election of its president must be conducted by a general body consisting of duly elected delegates.

However, no authenticated or comprehensive list of these delegates has been published to date, he claimed.

Randhawa, who is the former deputy chief minister of Punjab, said "there is also no record of the dates or process through which these delegates were elected, if at all".

The SAD's registered office is in Chandigarh and any such process should legally and ethically be conducted there, he added.

The Congress MP said a rival faction of the SAD, opposed to the current leadership, has publicly launched a parallel membership campaign, which is still ongoing.

"Proceeding with the presidential election during this unresolved intra-party conflict will likely result in legal complications and multiplicity of litigation," said Randhawa.

"I respectfully urge the Commission to immediately direct the SAD to suspend its internal election process scheduled for April 12, pending full compliance with ECI norms and its own constitution," he added.

Reacting to Randhawa's letter, SAD leader Daljit Singh Cheema said that he wrote it on the directions of his "bosses Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge in league with the rebel Akali faction".

Cheema was referring to the rebel group led by Gurpartap Singh Wadala and SAD MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali, who are part of the Akal Takht-appointed committee which was carrying out the party's membership drive.

He said that Randhawa's complaint to the Election Commission was a "desperate attempt to prevent the SAD from coming back in the field".

"The rebel group had earlier aligned with the BJP and even the AAP to damage the SAD. Now it has even joined hands with the Congress. While it exposes the rebel group thoroughly, it also makes it clear that all the parties in the fray are afraid of the SAD," said Cheema.

The SAD leader said that the rebel group had been trying to link the party's membership drive with religion and get it derecognized and added "the linkup between the rebel group and Randhawa has proved this".

He asked the Congress top leadership to come out in the open to fight with the SAD instead of indulging in "cloak and dagger" activities by presenting leaders like Randhawa as "whistleblower" to the Election Commission.

Cheema said that such "desperate politically motivated" attempts to "sabotage" the organization's elections of the SAD would not succeed.

"The delegate session will elect the new president of the party on April 12 which will be followed by a massive political conference on April 13," he added.

The SAD leader said as far as the complaint of holding the election in the Teja Singh Samundri Hall was concerned, the fact of the matter was that the hall was part of the administrative block of Sri Darbar Sahib and it was a tradition to hold the election of the SAD president there.

"The SAD has also taken permission to hold the meeting in the Hall in advance," he added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)