On 14 December 1920, Sikh activists gathered before the Akal Takht in Amritsar and decided to form a central dal to carry the Gurdwara reform movement forward. Sarmukh Singh Jhabal was named its first jathedar (president). The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) had been formed a month earlier, on 15 November 1920.

On 29 March 1922 the Dal passed a resolution adding “Shiromani” (supreme) to its name. From then on it has been the Shiromani Akali Dal.

After years of peaceful morchas and great sacrifices, the Sikh Gurdwaras Act of 1925 brought the historic gurdwaras under Sikh management through the SGPC.

In December 1929 the Akali Dal and the Central Sikh League held an Akali conference at Lahore, alongside the annual session of the Congress, showing the Dal’s growing role in the national struggle.

In the provincial elections of 1937 the Akali Dal won 10 seats.

In 1948 Master Tara Singh of the Akali Dal first put forward the demand for a Punjabi Suba, a state built around the Punjabi language.

In 1955, after slogans in support of Punjabi Suba were banned, the Akali Dal under Master Tara Singh began a long agitation. Thousands courted arrest.

On 1 November 1966, under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, a Punjabi-speaking Punjab came into being. It was the result of a long struggle led by Master Tara Singh and Sant Fateh Singh.

On 8 March 1967 Gurnam Singh of the Akali Dal (Sant Fateh Singh group) became the first non-Congress Chief Minister of Punjab.

In 1968 the Akali Dal groups of Master Tara Singh and Sant Fateh Singh were reunited.

In March 1970 Parkash Singh Badal became Chief Minister of Punjab, at that time the youngest Chief Minister of any Indian state.

In June 1977 Parkash Singh Badal became Chief Minister for the second time and served until 1980.

In 1985 Surjit Singh Barnala led the first Akali Dal government that did not depend on a coalition with another party.

Parkash Singh Badal became Chief Minister for the third time on 12 February 1997 and completed a full term to February 2002, the first Punjab Chief Minister to do so since 1964.

The Akali Dal–BJP alliance won in 2007 (67 of 117 seats) and again in 2012 (68 seats). Parkash Singh Badal became the first Chief Minister of Punjab to serve two consecutive terms, until March 2017.

On 31 January 2008 Sukhbir Singh Badal became president of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

On 14 December 2020 the Shiromani Akali Dal completed 100 years. It is the second-oldest political party in India, after the Indian National Congress.

S. Parkash Singh Badal, five-time Chief Minister of Punjab and the longest-serving in the state’s history, passed away on 25 April 2023.