Sukhbir Singh Badal, 62, resigned as the president of the Shiromani Akali Dal on Saturday. The news was shared by former Punjab Education Minister Daljit S Cheema in a tweet. He resigned to make way for the next election. 

"The SAD President S Sukhbir Singh Badal submitted his resignation to the working Committee of the party today to pave the way for the election of new President," Cheema shared on X. "He thanked all the party leaders & workers for expressing confidence in his leadership and extending wholehearted support & cooperation throughout the tenure," the post further read.

In order to determine the next steps, Balwinder Singh Bhundar, the president of the Akali Dal Working Committee, summoned an urgent meeting of the committee on Monday at 12 p.m. at the Chandigarh party headquarters. Notably, elections are planned for December 14 for the positions of president, office bearers, and Akali Dal working committee.

Sukhbir began his political career in 1996 when he was elected as an MP from Faridkot. He lost the seat in 1999 but became a Rajya Sabha MP in 2001 and served as a Union minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. In 2004, he won the Faridkot Lok Sabha seat again. In August 2009, he entered state politics by winning the Jalalabad by-election and served as Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab from 2009 to 2017. As the president of SAD, he led the party to victory in the 2012 elections, forming an alliance with BJP.

However, the party's popularity declined after the 2017 Assembly elections. SAD is not participating in the polls for the four Assembly constituencies in Punjab on November 20.