CONSTITUTION OF SHIROMANI AKALI DAL

(ENGLISH VERSION)

Constitution of Shiromani Akali Dal

(English Version)

The political principles on which the body is based.

The Shiromani Akali Dal is a political party, which is formed on the basis of democratic principles and to create an environment through democratic and peaceful means to secure better standard of living , equality and justice for all sections of society and especially to safeguard the interests of National Minorities in general and Sikhs in particular. The Shiromani Akali Dal realizes that India is a federal and republican geographical entity of different languages, religions and cultures. To safeguard the fundamental rights of the religious and linguistic minorities, to fulfill the demands of the democratic traditions and pave the way for economic progress, it has become imperative that the Indian constitutional structure be given a real federal shape by redefining centre state relations and rights on the lines of the aforesaid principles and objectives.

AIMS AND OBJECTS

"The Shiromani Akali Dal realizes that India is a federal and republican geographical entity of different languages , religions and cultures. To safeguard the fundamental rights of the religious and linguistic minorities, to fulfill the demands of the democratic traditions and to pave the way for economic progress it has become imperative that the Indian constitutional structure be given a real federal shape by redefining the Centre and State relations and rights on the lines of aforesaid principles and objectives."

"Shiromani Akali Dal has ever stood firm on this principle and that is why after very careful consideration it unanimously adopted a resolution to this effect first at All India Akali Conference , Batala, then at Shri Anandpur Sahib endorsing the principle of Federalism.

As such, the Shiromani Akali Dal emphatically urges upon the Government of India to take cognizance of the different linguistic and cultural sections, religious minorities as also the voice of million of people and recast the constitutional structure of the country on real and meaningful federal intergrity of the country and further , to enable the states to play a useful role for the progress and prosperity of the Indian people in their respective areas by meaningful exercise of the powers"

Enrolment

1. Every adult is eligible for enrolment as primary member of the Shiromani Akali Dal after depositing membership fee for a period of three years provided:

A) He/She has faith in the programmes and policies of Shiromani Akali Dal:

B) Does not believe in untouchability, areas bias and caste system.

C) Does not drink liquor.

D) No member of the Shiromani Akali Dal can become a member of any other political body or association without the prior approval of the Working Committee.

2. Admission to the Shiromani Akali Dal shall remain open throughout the year. Every person can apply for membership on the prescribed proforma along-with advance payment of enrolment fee. The Working Committee will have the right to reject any application. Only those would be eligible for participation in annual election who have' been enrolled on or before the last date prescribed.

ENROLMENT FEE

3. (A) Membership fee for primary membership shall be Rs.5/- payable in advance. Distribution of enrolment fee shall be as under:--

a) for the State of Punjab

Shiromani Akali Dal— Rs. 3.50

District Akali Jatha---- Rs. 1.00

Circle Akali Jatha--- Rs. 0.50

b) States other than Punjab :--

Shiromani Akali Dal— Rs. 3.50

State Akali Dal Rs. 1.50

c) Foreign countries:--

Shiromani Akali Dal- Rs. 3.50

State Akali Jatha Rs. 1.50

NOTE: Total enrolment fee shall be deposited in the office of Shiromani Akali Dal in advance by every Jatha. The Akali Dal will then make payment to the respective Jathas as per their share.

B) Delegates to the circle Akali Jathas shall pay Rs.25/- annually to their respective Jathas and Delegates to the District Akali Jathas shall pay Rs. 50/- annually to their respective District Jathas/State Akali Dal.

C) Every General Delegate to the Shiromani Akali Dal shall pay Rs 100/- to the funds of Shiromani Akali Dal annually.

D) Only those members would be eligible to vote in meeting of their respective Jathas, who have paid their dues before the start of the meeting.

ORGANISATION

4. (A) A minimum of ten members are required for establishing a Jathas in any village town or city. There shall be only one Jatha in any one village town and city.

B) A minimum of one hundred primary members or existence of 5 local jathas shall be a pre-condition for constituting the Circle Akali Jatha. The area under the jurisdiction of a particular Police Station shall comprise the area under that Circle Akali Jatha within the State of Punjab . The Working Committee shall fix the limits of the Circle Akali Jathas outside Punjab .

C) The Distt. Akali Jatha will be constituted by the elected Delegates of the Circle Akali Jatha. Where Circle Akali Jathas have not been constituted, Distt. Akali Jathas can be set up by the Special Approval of Shiromani Akali Dal provided more than one hundred primary members have been enrolled in that District.

D) Village Akali Jathas shall elect members for their Circle Jathas. Members of the Circle Akali Jathas will elect general members for their Distt. Jathas.

ELECTION

5. (A) Shiromani Akali Dal shall be organized at the village level. Members of the village Jatha will elect one member for every 100 members as general member of their Circle Akali Jatha. Every 25 members of the Circle Akali Jatha shall elect one Delegate for the Distt. Jatha. Each Distt. Jatha shall elect Delegates for the general house of Shiromani Akali Dal only in accordance with the quota allotted by the Akali Dal to the Districts. For each Delegate elected by the District Jatha, a minimum of 500 primary members should have been enrolled.

B) All jathedars (Presidents) of the Shiromani Akali Dal, State Akali and Distt. Akali Jathas who have remained on that position for a minimum of one year and fill in the application form for the primary membership of the Jatha of which they were Presidents shall be treated as General Members of that Jatha.

C) Enrolment of primary membership of Akali Dal will be held every three years. Delegates to the Circle, District, State & Shiromani Akali Dal and office bearers of the village jathas shall hold office for a period of three years, but the election by the general house of the Circle Jathas, Distt. Jathas, President , State Akali Dal, President Shiromani Akali Dal will be elected by their respective general houses for three years. The Working Committees shall comprise of 51 members including office bearers. The President shall nominate 31 members including the office bearers the remaining 20 shall be directly elected by the general house.

The Shiromani Akali Dal Working Committee will have the dates of enrolment and election. The Working Committee will have the right to postpone the date for enrolment and election for special reasons.

D) President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Distt Akali Jatha, Circle Jatha will hold office till the election of the next Presidents.

E) Election of the general members of the Distt. Akali Jathas of Shiromani Akali Dal shall be conducted in the general meeting of the District Akali Jatha under the Presidentship of the observer appointed by the Shiromani Akali Dal.

F) At the time of organizational elections, it would be imperative for the elected Jathedar of each unit to give due representation to the minority group according to their strength.

G) The maximum number of General Delegates to the Shiromani Akali Dal including ex-officio members will not exceed 500. District – Wise distribution is as under:--

PUNJAB

Sr No. Name of the District No. of Delegates

1 Amritsar Rural 35

2 Amritsar City 10

3 Batinda 25

4 Ferozepur 20

5 Faridkot 07

6 Fateh Garh Sahib 10

7 Gurdaspur 22

8 Hoshiarpur 11

9 Jalandhar Rural 22

10 Jalandhar City 08

11 Kapurthlala 20

12 Ludhiana Rural 26

13 Ludhiana City 10

14 Mukatsar 20

15 Moga 11

16 Mansa 12

17 Nawan Shahar 12

18 Patti 12

19 Patiala Rural 20

20 Patilala City 08

21 Ropar 19

22 Sangrur 30

DELEGATES OF OTHER STATES AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Sr No. Name of State or Country Total State Delegate

1 Uttar Pardesh 08

2 Uttranchal 04

3 Haryana 30

4 Delhi 10

5 Chandigarh 03

6 J&K 04

7 Himachal Pardesh 02

3 Rajasthan 10

4 TamilNaidu 01

5 Bihar 02

6 Maharashtra 04

7 Canada 05

8 Afganistan 00

9 Iran 00

10 USA 05

11 Africa 00

12 Australia 01

13 Singapore 01

NOTE: The above figures shall be presented before the first meeting of the general house after each census for its consideration.

H) On any vacancy being caused in the general house either by the death, resignation or expulsion of any member, the President will have power of nomination for filling of any such vacancy for the remaining term.

OFFICE BEARERS

6. Akali Jathas of the Shiromani Akali Dal shall have the following office bearers:

Sr No Designation Total

1 Patron 2

2 Jathedar (President) 1

3 Senior Vice Presidents 4

4 Vice Presidents 4

5 Secretary General 1

6 General Secretary 6

7 Secretary 1

8 Organisation Secretary 2

9 Press Secretary 1

10 Treasurer 1

NOTE: The President shall have the powers to increase or decrease the number of office bearers as per the requirements of the time. He has the right of nomination against any post falling vacant.

7) In the event of the vacancy falling to the office of the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, The Working Committee shall have the power to fill this post till such time the election is held. Same shall apply to Distt.. And Circle office bearers.

8) In the event of office bearers of the Circle, Distt., State or the Shiromani Akali Dal having been sent to jail for a period exceeding three months or sickness for the same period a temporary vacancy for that post would be taken to have occurred. The Working Committee will have the powers to make temporarily appointments against the said vacancy.

9) The general body of the Shiromani Akali Dal shall meet at least once every year and a report regarding the activities of the Dal in the previous year shall be presented for the consideration of the House. Subsequent upon deliberation of the prevailing situation, programme for the next year will be prepared.

DUTIES OF THE OFFICE BEARERS

10 (A) President (Jathedar) of Shiromani Akali Dal will be responsible for implementation of the programme and policies of the Shiromani Akali Dal and work for the accomplishment of the objectives of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

B) Senior Vice President will perform any such duties as are assigned to him by the President. He will also look after the duties of the President in case of the absence of the President.

C) Vice President will perform any such duties as are assigned to him by the President and in his absence by the Senior vice President. He will also perform the duties of Senior Vice President in the case of his absence..

GENERAL SECRETARIES

A) General Secretaries shall be responsible for the office work and the President will distribute the work load among them.

B) Supervision of the work of Secretary.

C) Approval of the bill for expenses.

D) Preparation of the Budget etc.

E) Successful implementation of the organizational programmes as directed by the Akali Dal.

SECRETARY

A) To manage the office work under the supervision of the General Secretaries.

B) Maintain accounts.

C) To maintain the records and correspondence.

D) To take down the notes of the proceedings of the meetings and presentation of the agenda in the meetings.

TREASURER

To arrange collection of funds for the Shiromani Akali Dal and supervise the accounts.

FUNDS

A) Funds will be accounted under the following heads:--

a) General donations.

b) Annual subscription by the members.

c) Share of the membership fee.

d) Misc.

B) Expenses will be accounted as follows:----

a) Monetary help to any Akali worker for special services rendered for the party.

b) Pay and allowances of the office employees.

c) Expenses incurred for implementation of the Shiromani Akali Dal resolutions and for holding rallies/meetings etc.

d) Misc. by orders of the President.

e) Party accounts will be maintained in any branch of the Scheduled Bank and will be operated by the President / Treasurer and one office bearers designated by the President for this purpose. Any two members can be empowered by the President to operate the account.

POLITICAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE

11. The Political Affairs Committee will consist of 25 members.

WORKING COMMITTEE

12. The working committee shall comprise of 51 members.

GENERAL COUNCIL

13. Total membership of the Council will be 101. This will be nominated by the President from amongst notable personalities in various fields.

QUORUM

14. One fifth of the total membership of all the Jathas of the Shiromani Akali Dal will constitute the Quorum for their meeting but in the case of Working Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal one third of the total membership shall form the quorum.

MEETINGS

15. (A) The General House of the Shiromani Akali Dal shall meet at least once every year in addition to other annual gatherings.

(B) The Political Affairs Committee and Working Committee shall meet at least once every two months and the council, if constituted, will hold a meeting every three months.

(C) No confidence motion against the President can only be brought forth if it forms part of the agenda circulated for that meeting. In case of no confidence motion being passed in the meeting the post of the President will be considered as vacant and a new President may be elected in the same meeting.

In the case of the no confidence motion against the President being passed in the Working committee, an appeal against it would lie with general house. Same rule will apply to all the Jathas of the Shiromani Akali Dal except that a no confidence motion in these Jathas can be brought forth with the approval of the Shiromani Akali Dal. No confidence motion can only be brought forth after a period of three months from the date of election.

(D) No confidence motion against the President of the Shiromani Akali Dal and the Distt. Jathedars can be passed by a majority of members of the General House, present and voting.

(E) President of the Shiromani Akali Dal shall have the powers to summon meetings. In case of refusal by the President to summon a meeting 30 members of the General House or 10 members of the Council or 5 members of the Working Committee can issue requisition for a meeting, the President shall be bound to call a meeting on the receipt of such a notice. The persons requisitioning such a meeting shall have the right to summon the meeting on their own provided the President does not fix a date of the meeting within 7 days of the receipt of such notice and meeting of the General House is not fixed within one month of the receipt of such notice and 15 days in case of the Council and that of the Working Committee within 7 days. Such a requisitioned meeting can only be held at the head quarters of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

16. Annual report will be read before the annual meeting of the general house and printed audit report will be circulated.

17. The budget of the Shiromani Akali Dal will be approved at the beginning of each year by the Working Committee and monthly accounts report will be placed before each meeting of the Working Committee.

18. The Working Committee shall have the powers to make rules regarding the maintenance of the accounts.

19. The accounts of the Shiromani Akali Dal will be audited annually and audit report will be placed before the meeting of the Working Committee.

20. Working Committee will appoint auditors for the accounts for the Distt. Jathas.

21. Rules and regulations and resolutions formulated in the matter of accounts shall be binding on all Jathas.

22. Concerned Jathas will be responsible for their own income and expenses of funds, but the auditing of the accounts will be done by appointees of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

23. The Working Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal shall have the powers to dissolve any Jathas in case of the Jatha flouting the rules, resolutions and directions or on refusal to perform organizational duties or working against the interests of the party. The working Committee shall appoint an adhoc Jatha in such a situation in its place. Within specified period fresh enrolment for the Jatha shall be initiated and a new Jatha will be installed through election.

24. Every member shall be bound to obey the directions of his Jathedars in connection with organisations work.

25. The Working Committee shall have the powers to expel any member from the party. However, the Distt. Akali Jatha can suspend any member for any lapses.

ELECTION PETITIONS

26. (A) Election petitions against the elections of the office bearers and Delegates of concerned Jathas of Shiromani Akali Dal shall be submitted at the head office of Shiromani Akali Dal within 15 days of the announcement of the

results of the concerned election.

(B) The working committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal will appoint an election tribunal comprising of three independent persons of high integrity to hear the election petition. One among them shall be appointed as Chairman and the decision of the tribunal shall be final and binding. The Working Committee will have the powers to frame rules and bye-laws in this connection.

(C) Election petition can be filed on the basis of violation of the rules which have materially affected election results.

(D) Every election petition will be accompanied by advance deposit as

follows:--

Village Akali Jatha Rs. 20.00

Circle Akali Jatha Rs. 50.00

Distt. Akali Jatha Rs. 100.00

State Akali Jatha Rs. 1000.00

President Shiromani Akali Dal Rs. 2000.00

(E) Election petition can be filed by the defeated candidate or a

minimum ten voters.

(F) Election petition can be withdrawn at any time.

27. Any member of the Shiromani Akali Dal or office bearers who is in default of payment of advance for a period of three months shall not have the right to vote in any meeting till such time that he clears his arrears.

28. The Working Committee shall have the powers to frame rules for the implementation of these regulations/bye-laws provided no such rules shall be in contravention of these regulations/ bye-laws.

29. Any vacancy falling in the general house of the Circle, Distt. Or State Akali Dal shall be filled up by the Working Committee of the concerned Jatha with the condition that it shall be filled up from the same village/Distt. In which it has fallen vacant. State Akali Dal outside Punjab will enjoy the status of Distt. Akali Jathas within Punjab ..

30. Distt. Akali Jathas can further frame rules for the convenience of their working with approval of the Working Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal. But any such rule shall not be in contravention of the aims and regulations of the Shiromani Akali Dal. These rules and regulations of the Shiromani Akali Dal shall supercede any such rules framed by the Distt. Jathas.

31. Amendments to these regulations can be made by approval of two third majority of the members of the general house present and voting. Any such amendments or framing new rules/ regulations shall first be placed before the working Committee and shall be circulated with the agenda of the general house

meeting.

32. Every elected Member of Parliament and Member of Legislative Assembly on the party ticket will contribute monthly subscription of Rs.100/- and Rs.50/- respectively. Clearing of arrears shall be necessary for obtaining further nomination.

32. Every unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal shall have minimum of 2 office bearers and 3 members to the working committee from amongst the Scheduled Castes and Backward classes.

33. Every unit of the Shiromani Akali Dal shall have a minimum of one lady member.

34. Decision of the Working Committee of the Shiromani Akali Dal regarding the interpretation of these regulations shall be final and binding.

35. Shiromani Akali Dal shall bear true faith and allegiance to the Constitution of India as by law established and to the principals of socialism, secularism and democracy and shall uphold the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India .