CHANDIGARH: Hoshiarpur local court on Thursday granted bail to Punjab’s five-time Chief Minister and SAD patriarch Parkash Singh Badal in a dual constitution case, filed against his party in 2009.
The court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Rupinder Singh granted bail to the senior Badal, who personally appeared in the trial court of ACJM on Thursday, in the case wherein the complainant had accused the Akali Dal of submitting two different constitutions — one with the Gurdwara Election Commission and the second with the Election Commission of India (ECI) — to seek recognition as a political party.
Hitesh Puri, lawyer for social activist and complainant Balwant Singh Khera, said that Badal had furnished his surety bonds or bail bonds in the local trial court of ACJM to the tune of Rs one lakh in pursuance of the interim bail order of Wednesday passed by the court of JPS Khurmi, Additional Sessions Judge, Hoshiarpur.
 In October 2021, the local court had granted interim bail to SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal in the same case involving the allegation that his party had submitted a false undertaking to the poll panel to seek recognition for his party.
 The complainant had alleged that the SAD had given a false undertaking to the ECI that it had amended its constitution to incorporate the principles of socialism and secularism whereas it continued its activities as a panthic party and openly participated in Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee elections.
The three main accused in this case are Parkash Singh Badal, Sukhbir Badal and SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema. While Sukhbir and Cheema had appeared in this case last year and are out on bail, Senior Badal had given several misses owing to personal reasons.
The complainant, Khera, contended that SAD is not a secular party as per the Constitution of India as it has two separate constitutions. SAD had registered itself as a secular party with ECI but has been participating as a religious body for the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) elections, he added. Punjab and Haryana High Court, on August 27, 2021, had disposed of a petition by SAD against the proceedings of Hoshiarpur court that had summoned Sukhbir, his father Parkash Singh Badal, and Cheema. AGENCIES