Sunil Kumar Jakhar
Sunil Kumar Jakhar (born 9 February 1954) is an Indian politician who has led major Punjab political parties. He has been the president of the Punjab unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since July 4, 2023. Before joining the BJP in 2022, Jakhar spent many years with the Indian National Congress (INC), including as Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Legislative Assembly (2012–2015) and as president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (2017–2021). He served as a Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Gurdaspur from 2017 to 2019, losing the seat in 2019.
Jakhar was elected as a Member of the Punjab Legislative Assembly from Abohar and served from 2002 to 2017. He comes from a prominent political family; his father Balram Jakhar was a top INC leader and former Speaker of the Lok Sabha. His family includes other politicians such as his brothers Sajjan Kumar Jakhar and Surinder Jakhar, the latter who passed away in 2011, and his nephew Sandeep Jakhar.
Jakhar was born in Panjkosi, Fazilka district, Punjab. He holds a BA from Government College, Chandigarh, and an MBA from Kurukshetra University. He is married to Silvia Jakhar, a Swiss citizen who lives in Delhi.
He is known for his blunt and clean public image. After a long career with the INC, he joined the BJP in 2022 and became the party’s Punjab president in 2023, making him the only Punjab politician to lead the state units of both major parties. In 2024–25 there were reports about his resignation as BJP Punjab chief, which the party denied; by mid-2025 he had returned to active politics and supported a bypoll candidate in Ludhiana West. He has also urged closer ties and reform within the BJP-SAD alliance.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 20:22 (CET).