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Updated: May 31, 2019 17:03 IST

Harsimrat Kaur Badal, 52, from the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), will be part of the new cabinet of the 17th Lok Sabha. Badal was elected for the third consecutive time from Bathinda, where she defeated Congress’ Amrinder Singh Warring by little over 21,000 votes.

Badal was the minister for food processing in the first term of the Narendra Modi government. She has been chosen to represent the Punjab-based party, which is one of the oldest allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party, in the new cabinet.

Badal is a graduate from Delhi University and holds a diploma in textile design.

She has been a regular visitor to her constituency, and receives support from brother Bikram Singh Majithia who was a minister in the earlier SAD-BJP coalition government in Punjab.

Badal is the wife of SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, and the daughter-in-law of Akali patriarch Parkash Singh Badal. Sukhbir Singh Badal won the Firozpur Lok Sabha seat in the recent general elections. The party won only two of the 10 seats that it contested in the state.