Chandigarh, Sept. 24 -- Ahead of the high-stakes 2027 Punjab assembly elections, the Sukhbir Singh Badal-led Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) finds itself on the backfoot following the registration of a rape case against senior party leader and Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) member Amarjit Singh Chawla.

The scandal has come at a critical juncture when the party was looking to reclaim its lost ground in the state, especially among Panthic voters, with the high-decibel Punjab Bachao Campaign. The case stems from an FIR registered on August 21 by the Anandpur Sahib police based on a complaint lodged by a Bahrain-based woman originally hailing from Sangrur. The complainant alleged that she was wrongfully confined and repeatedly sexu...