Panjab District & Block Polls on 14 Dec

Panjab Election Commissioner Raj Kamal Chaudhuri announced the state Zila Parishad (District Council, ZP) and Panchayat Samiti (Block Council, PS) elections on 14 Dec. The counting of votes will begin on 17 Dec; nominations started on 1 Dec. On 3 Dec, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) chief Sukhbir Singh Badal released an audio clip in which senior Patiala police officers allegedly are telling each other to ‘tear up nomination papers of SAD candidates’. While police called the phone call 'Artificial Intelligence generated', a social media news channel posted a video clip of a candidate's nomination papers being snatched in Ghanaur, district Patiala. After criticism from Indian National Congress (IC) and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the police have now filed six First Information Reports against unknown people involving accusations of snatching and tearing of nomination papers. SAD Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal has urged the Election Commission of India to suspend the elections. Panjab INC Leader of Opposition Partap Bajwa has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHHC) for extension in date for filing of nominations. PHHC has given a two-day deadline to ECI to provide details of the audio clip. Unlike previous ZP and PS elections when the party did not find enough candidates, this time the BJP has secured 1.8K candidates willing to contest on the party symbol. The elections will affect Panjab’s government schools as hundreds of teachers have been pulled out for election duty. The Democratic Teachers Front (DTF), said they will meet Deputy Commissioners to protest what they called 'unjustified' deputing of women teachers to far flung polling stations. Meanwhile, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu has said her husband Navjot Singh Sidhu will return to active politics if the INC declares him as the party's chief ministerial face in Panjab. She added, 'We do not have USD 55M, which we can give to sit in the chief minister's chair.' The remark has led to furore among all parties and now the INC Panjab unit has suspended her.

In October 2024, India added a Canadian Border Services Agency official Sandeep Singh Sidhu alias Sunny to its list of fugitives sought for deportation. India alleged Sidhu was linked to the 2020 assassination of Balwinder Singh Sandhu, a 1990 bravery award winner for action against Khalistani militants in Panjab. On 2 Dec, Sidhu filed a lawsuit in the Ontario court against India’s government. He says he was recklessly made the face of a ploy aimed at embarrassing Canada. Born and raised in British Columbia, Sidhu says he is not a practicing Sikh. The sudden scrutiny forced him into hiding, triggering severe emotional distress. Sidhu is also suing the Canadian government, which he says, failed to defend him from the state-sponsored scheme that forced him into hiding amid calls for his arrest and killing. The case comes at a time when Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is deepening ties with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government despite mounting evidence of its attacks on Canadians. The lawsuit, which seeks CAD 9M in personal injury damages, alleges that New Delhi spread fabrications about Sidhu to hit back at Ottawa for accusing India of committing violence in Canada. Sidhu was singled out by India because he had a common Sikh name and a visible, uniformed position within the Canadian national security apparatus. The court hearing is set for early 2026. Meanwhile, one of the key figures behind the Panjab Warriors takeover deal in the UK, Gurpreet Singh Rehal, is alleged to have recruited, purchased weapons, and provided finance for Babbar Khalsa and Babbar Akali Lehar, Khalistani militant groups respectively proscribed and sanctioned under UK law. Rehal's UK assets have been frozen by the Treasury and he has been banned as a company director. A UK government statement said, 'Rehal is suspected of belonging to organizations involved in terrorism in India.' In a statement, Morecambe and Panjab Warriors distanced themselves from Rehal. The Panjab Warriors statement said, '(Rehal's) consultancy position carried no strategic, financial or operational authority, and he had no involvement in the ownership or club decision-making' (earlier coverage).

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited India on 4–5 Dec. The visit came during strained Indo-US ties and India facing high US tariffs. The visit resulted in some minor but no major agreements between the two countries; they announced a Labour Mobility Agreement that will facilitate Indian skilled workers to work in Russia, where a 3M manpower shortage for jobs is expected by the end of the decade. Panjab’s Indian National Congress party’s Member of Legislative Assembly Pargat Singh urged the Indian Prime Minister to 'raise the issue of Panjab's youth who were misled into the Russia-Ukraine war. Five young men are reportedly dead and several are still missing—with their families waiting in distress.' The families of the missing youth recently submitted memorandums at the offices of Indian President, Prime Minister, Ministry of External Affairs, National Human Rights Commission, and the Home Ministry, requesting to ensure the safe return of youngsters. A resident of Goraya, Jalandhar, Jagdeep Kumar has been trying to trace his brother Mandeep Kumar who went missing in March 2023. However, the Indian government made no statement on the missing youth and it is not clear if the issue even came up in talks with Russia. Meanwhile, Panjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann visited Japan and South Korea seeking investment in the state. In other news, in the US, the Department of Transportation (DOT) revoked the licenses of 3K truck driving schools and other training providers as part of the Trump administration's widening crackdown on the trucking industry. Another 4K schools and trainers have been placed on notice for potential noncompliance. The names of those schools and trainers were not immediately released. Together they represent more than 40% of US's 16K authorized training providers, according to the DOT which accuses them of falsifying or manipulating training data, neglecting to meet required curriculum standards and instructor qualifications, and failing to maintain or share accurate records. Concurrently, in the last few weeks, the New Zealand Transport Agency has cancelled nearly 460 commercial driving licenses, most of them of Sikh drivers, from India (earlier coverage).

A controversy erupted in June 2000 when 328 saroops (tome) of the Guru Granth Sahib (Sikh scripture and charter, GGS) were found missing from the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) publication house in Amritsar. Five years later, on 7 Dec, the Panjab Police registered a First Information Report in the case against 16 people, including SGPC’s former chief secretary Roop Singh and the ex-secretary of the Dharam Parchar (religious preaching) Committee Manjit Singh. Panjab Legislative Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan said, ‘Our government will not spare anybody who will commit this type of heinous crime.’ SGPC President Advocate Harjinder Singh Dhami has said the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is interfering in Sikh institutions and is politically motivated. He said that the matter of missing saroops was investigated by Sri Akal Takht Sahib (Eternal Throne, AT) and departmental action has been taken as per the report and recommendations of the investigation. It has been made clear in the AT report that the matter is not about sacrilege but about the misappropriation of money by some SGPC employees. Meanwhile, as Panjab prepares for the Parkash Purab (birth anniversary) of the 10^th Sikh Sovereign Guru Gobind Singh, the long-standing debate over the Nanakshahi Calendar has resurfaced. This has raised questions on when to celebrate the Guru’s birth anniversary or observe the Shaheedi Saptah—the solemn week commemorating the martyrdom of the Guru’s younger Sahibzade (Sovereign's sons) and mother Mata Gujri. Acting AT Jathedar (leader) Giani Kuldip Singh Gargajj, has objected to the  fancy-dress competitions dedicated to the martyrdom day of the Sahibzade, ordered by the Child Welfare Council, Panjab—affiliated with the Indian Child Welfare Council. He said it is extremely concerning that both the India and Panjab governments show little seriousness or understanding of Sikh principles, sentiments, and traditions, resulting in officials of government departments issuing arbitrary and anti-Sikh directives. Since 2022, the Bharatiya Janata Party has been marking the Sahibzade martyrdom as Veer Bal Divas (day of brave kids). For Sikhs the sons—though young, are not kids but examples of great bravery and sacrifice—are Babas, wise ones (earlier coverage).

Chaos unfolded across India between 2–6 Dec when thousands of IndiGo flights were canceled. IndiGo has about 65% of Indian air market share. At the airports in Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jammu, and Srinagar hundreds of passengers were left stranded. On 5 Dec, 22 flights were cancelled at Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport, Amritsar. Flight ticket prices from Chandigarh to major destinations skyrocketed as IndiGo operates the majority, around 55 arrivals and departures, daily. An Air India flight on the Chandigarh–Delhi route cost USD 177. On routine days, an IndiGo one-way ticket for the same sector usually ranges between USD 27–44. Pilots in IndiGo Airlines have questioned how the shortage of 65 captains and 59 co-pilots following the implementation of the revised Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL) norms could have triggered the cancellation and delays of thousands of flights. IndiGo operates around 2,200 flights a day. It has 2,357 captains on its rolls and 2,194 first officers. Hence, there are 4,551 pilots while the deficit is 124 pilots or 5%. When the new norms came into effect, it should have affected 5–7% of the flights, 110–150 flights at most. IndiGo succeeded in arm twisting the Indian government as it revoked the FDTL norms. Meanwhile, earlier this month, India’s Department Of Telecommunications (DoT) ordered all smartphone users to install the Sanchar Saathi cybersecurity application. The directive also instructed manufacturers to push the application to new devices. Opposition leaders, privacy advocates, and technology companies raised alarms that Sanchar Saathi was a potential snooping application. The government withdrew the notice only to launch a new SIM Binding directive which directed online messaging platforms to bar users from accessing their services without the SIM card used to register for the application. This direction could  impact companies like WhatsApp, and could pose challenges for users travelling abroad. The Broadband India Forum (BIF)—an industry group which has WhatsApp and Meta as members—spoke out against the directive. BIF’s statement said that while DoT’s order was ‘well-intentioned,’ it raised ‘significant questions of jurisdiction, proportionality, and consumer impact.’

During the ongoing winter session of the Indian Parliament, the Union Ministry of Jal Shakti (Water Resources) informed that the Bhakra reservoir in Himachal has lost 2,568 MCM of its original storage capacity due to sedimentation. The gross storage capacity of the reservoir is 9.62 BCM. Also, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) is yet to begin de-siltation work at its two major reservoirs, Bhakra and Pong. The data was placed in the Lok Sabha (Lower House of Parliament) in response to an unstarred question by Chandigarh Member of Parliament Manish Tewari on the status of de-silting of the BBMB dams. Minister of State for Jal Shakti, Raj Bhushan Choudhary said a pilot project for de-siltation of Bhakra is on the cards under the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project. The pilot is proposed on a revenue-generation model. Panjab, meanwhile, has started de-silting 13 of its dams and has sought forest clearances for nine more. Meanwhile, BBMB has proposed a 1.5K MW pumped storage power project near the Bhakra Dam head in Himachal Pradesh’s Una district. The planned project would exceed the generation capacity of the Bhakra Dam, which currently produces 1.3K MW electricity. BBMB has identified Dobar village in the Shivalik foothills for the ambitious project. Engineers have pinpointed a narrow gorge in the area where a 20 MCM reservoir can be constructed. The project hinges on advanced reversible-turbine technology—turbines that can both pump water and generate electricity. BBMB authorities have also issued a recovery notice of USD 19K to Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Union Minister of State for Railways Ravneet Singh Bittu for the 'illegal possession' of its houses in the Nangal township colony. Concurrently, the BJP-led union government canceled the celebration of the 100^th anniversary of the Gang Canal scheduled for 5 Dec at Hussainiwala, Ferozepur. The government asked union minister for Law and Justice Arjun Ram Meghwal to return back. Gang canal carries water from Panjab to parts of Rajasthan and remains contentious because half of Panjab’s water goes to Rajasthan when the state itself needs water. Meghawal, elected from Bikaner, attended the ceremony in Rajasthan’s Sri Ganganagar district (earlier coverage).

After days of severe disruption, Punjab Roadways and PRTC bus services finally resumed operations on 3 Dec. The unions withdrew the agitation after receiving confirmation that jailed and detained union leaders were being released and that termination orders against contractual workers were revoked. Nearly 80% of government bus services were suspended during the strike and out of a fleet of 229 buses operated by Punjab Roadways and PRTC, 133 remained off the roads during the strike in Ludhiana. Meanwhile, Sugs Lloyd Limited—a popular engineering, procurement, and construction solutions provider in the power sector—has secured an order valued at USD 433.7M from the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. (PSPCL). The project's primary aim is to enhance the state's power distribution networks by executing crucial loss reduction initiatives. Concurrently, powercom engineers from PSPCL, Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL), and Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) held a state-level protest meeting at Patiala on 3 Dec to urge the Panjab chief minister to restore the professional autonomy of PSPCL. The participants cited growing political interference and arbitrary actions by the power ministry as threats to the sector. They also condemned the overall trend of unwarranted political interference in technical, administrative and procurement decisions within the Power Corporation. Meanwhile, the Indian Railways has officially decided to restart work on the 40 km Qadian–Beas rail line, the construction for which had begun nearly a century ago under the British. The line had remained in the ‘freeze’ category due to land acquisition issues and political roadblocks. Minister of State for Railways, Ravneet Singh Bittu said, ‘This track will give a major boost to the struggling industrial units of Batala, the region’s steel town.’ However, at Dera Baba Nanak railway station, officials have begun the process of pulling down the century old 14 residential quarters that once housed the station master. Some believed that the Archaeological Survey of India would take note of the heritage complex once the Kartarpur Corridor was built. A railways official asked, ‘If the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) in Mumbai can be given the heritage tag, why not Dera Baba Nanak? (earlier coverage).

61% of the cotton arriving at Panjab’s grain markets was sold below the Minimum Support Price (MSP) in the 2025 monsoon season despite a fixed MSP of USD 89 per quintal. In many cases, cotton fetched as little as USD 33 per quintal—a crushing blow for farmers who were hopeful for fair returns. Only 230K quintals of cotton reached the mandis, compared to 540K quintals in 2024—a sharp decline indicating that many farmers may be moving away from cotton cultivation. Meanwhile, Panjab has also recorded its lowest paddy yield in nearly a decade, even as the state has surpassed its revised procurement target for the 2025–26 season. The paradox of low yield, flood-hit acreage, and record procurement has triggered concerns within the government and agricultural circles over the possibility of large volumes of paddy from neighboring states entering Panjab’s grain markets and being sold at the MSP, camouflaged as local produce. Panjab had reported 3249K hectares under paddy, including 683K hectares under Basmati, which is not procured by government agencies. Nearly 200K hectares suffered crop damage during the floods. Meanwhile, according to the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB), in 2024, Panjab has extracted groundwater at a staggering 156.36% of its annual replenishable resource—highest in India. According to the CGWB report, out of Panjab’s 153 groundwater assessment units, 72.55%are classified ‘over-exploited’. Panjab withdrew about 26.27 BCM of groundwater, while the natural recharge was only around 18.6 BCM, a severe deficit that underlines chronic over-exploitation. Meanwhile, Panjab and Haryana have collectively recorded about 90% reduction in stubble fire incidences during the 2025 paddy harvesting season, in comparison to the same period in 2022. The Supreme Court of India questioned the tendency to single out farmers for Delhi's persistent air pollution, observing that stubble burning existed even during the COVID pandemic lockdown when India’s capital region experienced unprecedented clear skies (earlier coverage).

Panjab's sex ratio at birth improved from 906 females per 1K males in 2017, to 922 in 2023, and once again dipped to 921 in 2024, says a report. This figure remains worryingly lower than the national average of 928 females per 1K males. The 2023 report Vital Statistics of India, based on annual reports of Indian states and union territories, ranked Panjab 20^th among 28 states. Panjab Health minister Dr Balbir Singh stated that the Panjab government's goal is to ensure that by 2026, Panjab's sex ratio surpasses the national average. The government has issued strict orders to all health department employees to monitor every aspect from conception to childbirth. The aim is to prevent any attempt at sex determination or female foeticide. Meanwhile, the Panjab Police has started a project Mainstreaming of Women Police aimed at assessing and enhancing the role and integration of women police officers across the state. The project commenced with a three-day training of trainers program held at the Panjab Police Academy, Phillaur, from 2–4 Dec. Special Director General of Police, Community Affairs Department, Gurpreet Kaur Deo said, ‘The project is an attempt at an evidence-based assessment of the success of the nationwide roll-out of the women helpdesk project of the government of India, wherein two women officials have been posted in each of the 384 police stations in Panjab.’ Additionally, Indian Union External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar said the National Investigation Agency investigation reveals that Panjab has the maximum number of cases of human trafficking. He said ‘the Panjab government has constituted a Special Investigative Team and a fact-finding committee. 25 First Information Reports have been registered against 58 illegal travel agents, and 16 accused have been arrested.’ Meanwhile, Ludhiana hospitals are seeing a surge of patients facing respiratory issues amid rising cold wave and pollution levels in the city. Amidst this, the panchayat (village council) of Balloh village, Bathinda district, led by sarpanch Amarjit Kaur, has passed a resolution banning the sale of all tobacco products to make the village tobacco-free (earlier coverage).

Patiala based artist Kulpreet Singh’s installations will be on display at the Kochi-Muziris Biennale 2025–26 from 12 Dec. Sounding more like a farmer than an artist, he says, ‘My installations are an art of urgency’. His installations are an urgent reminder of the perils of the Green Revolution in Panjab drawing attention to the soil, grain, and the producer. One of his recent works, Green Revolution features acrylic paint drawings on rice paper sandwiched with stubble ash, dipped in pesticides, and subjected to laser. The complex narrative, centered on the steady erosion of the earth’s biodiversity, is led by a cluster of 1K small panels bearing diagrammatic sketches of extinct reptiles, birds, insects, fungi, and plants. This outpouring of angst is crowned by two years of keen research and study of the conservation status data put up by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species. ‘Even as we scream for our human rights, there are many species on earth that are slipping away quietly, unnoticed,’ he points out. ‘We are all interconnected, and I wish we realize sooner how deeply,’ he adds. His major series called Indelible Black Marks draws attention to wounds not just of the body but of the mind. The work  has evolved as a multi media narrative with production quality matching that of a feature film. In Indelible Marks III, he turned a paddy stubble field into a mirror of a farmer’s misfortune and loss. The loss is not just financial and emotional but also the loss being denied a place in narrative. ‘A farmer is left with no choice but to burn the stubble,’ he says. ‘And that screams failure of a system that does not support our food producers’, he adds. Whether his installations at Singhu and Tikri border during the Farmers Protest 1.0 (2020-21) or his take on the power play during the COVID pandemic, his installations are hard hitting and echo the pain of the marginalized. Kulpreet Singh is also the recipient of the 2026 Asia Arts Award.