BJP-Akali Dal to continue 2014 equation in 2019 LS elections

Bengaluru, Feb 28: BJP Chief Amit Shah announced Thursday announced Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will fight on 10 seats and BJP on 3 seats in Punjab in upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Amit Shah announced the seat-sharing after meeting Akali Dal Chairman Sukhbir Singh Badal and BJP Punjab unit. Shah said, "The Akali-BJP alliance will fight 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Seats and the numbers of Both the parties will remain unchanged. the Akali Dal will fight on 10 seats and the BJP in 3 seats."

In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, the Akali Dal won only four of the 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab. The number of Lok Sabha seats contested by the two parties were the same in 2009 as well.

Five-time Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal may have passed on the mantle of the Shiromani Akali Dal to his son and heir-apparent Sukhbir Singh Badal, but the Akali patriarch remains the face and fulcrum of the regional party's long-standing alliance with the BJP.