- The Akali Dal was founded on October 14, 1920, as a task force of SGPC. Surmukh Singh Jhabhal was the first president of the party.
- The party first tasted electoral success in the provincial election of 1937, when it won 10 seats.
- In the provincial election of 1946, the party won 22 seats and joined the coalition
- government headed by Unionist Party’s Khizar Hayat Khan Tiwana along with Indian National Congress.
- In 1950s, the Akali Dal launched the Punjabi Suba movement, demanding a state with majority of Punjabi-speaking people.
- After the re-organisation of Punjab in 1966, the first government formed was by Akali Dal under Gurnam Singh in 1967. The early governments did not last long because of internal conflicts.
- In 1970, Parkash Singh Badal (now patriarch of the party) was sworn in as chief minister for the first time . Within a year, President’s rule was imposed in the state. Thereafter, he remained chief minister from 1977-1980, 1997-2002, 2007-2012 and 2012-17.
- In 1994, the party opened its doors to members from other faiths. Till then, it was a party with only Sikhs as members.
- In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the party that had fought for important issues of Punjab, saw the emergence of dynastic politics, and the slow departure from several strong leaders to a single ‘all powerful’ leader (Badal). Almost all top leaders got their “kakajis” in the party.
- The first time that Akali leaders had sought the help of Dera Sacha Sauda was in 2009 Bathinda Parliamentary election, which was contested by Harsimrat Kaur Badal.
- The Akali Dal started its social engineering experiment and giving tickets to non Sikhs for Assembly seats in 2012 elections.
- Party suffered its worst defeat in 2017 Assembly election, by getting just 15 assembly seats.
- Since September 2018, the right-wing party has seen a series of revolts and expulsions
The Akali Dal opens its doors
Till 1996, Akali Dal was a party with only Sikhs as members. As the party was formed from the Gurdwara Sudhar Lehar, only members of Sikh faith were its members. It was only after the mega Moga convention in 1996, organised to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the party’s founding, that the party opened its doors to members of all faiths. This was when it officially opened its membership to Hindus for the first time, besides announcing support for the concept of Punjabiyat. Following the major qualitative shift in the party’s nomenclature, many in Punjab began saying that the Akali Dal had transformed into Punjabi Dal.
Over the years, Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal, as part of his social engineering experiment, not just let Hindus, Muslims and Christians join the party, but also gave them tickets to contest the polls. However, after the party's recent debacles, there is a growing thinking within the party to first reconsidate the Sikh voters.