Punjab: AAP names 31 more candidates for 2027 polls, fields two MPs and drops Agriculture Minister Khudian
Sitting MPs Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer and Raj Kumar Chabbewal are in the list, while several sitting MLAs have lost their tickets. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said winnability was the only test.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Thursday released its second list of 31 candidates for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, bringing two of its MPs into the state contest and denying tickets to several sitting MLAs, including Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian.
With the new list, the ruling party has now named 71 candidates for the 117-member Assembly, The Tribune reported. The Election Commission has not yet announced a poll schedule.
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Who is in, who is out
Sangrur MP Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer will contest from Barnala, which he represented as an MLA before moving to the Lok Sabha. Hoshiarpur MP Raj Kumar Chabbewal has been fielded from Phagwara. Actor Sonia Mann is the party's candidate in Raja Sansi.
In Lambi, Khudian has been replaced by a relative, Randhir Singh Dhira. Former minister Anmol Gagan Maan has lost her Kharar ticket to Parminder Singh Goldy. In Chamkaur Sahib, sitting MLA Dr Charanjit Singh, who defeated then Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi in 2022, has made way for Jasvir Singh Garhi, a former Bahujan Samaj Party leader who joined AAP.
The list also includes Varinder Kaur Loomba, a former Shiromani Akali Dal MLA, in Shutrana, and former Amritsar mayor Karamjit Singh Rintu in Amritsar North.
Party's pitch and rivals' response
Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the party was seeking a fresh mandate on its record, citing free electricity of 300 units for households and its welfare schemes, and said candidates were chosen solely on winnability as judged by constituency surveys.
The list came on a day of sharpening pre-poll rhetoric. Former state BJP president Sunil Jakhar told The Tribune he was ready to take on AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal or Manish Sisodia if the party fielded either of them in Punjab, and would also contest against Mann in Dhuri if his party asked him to. The BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal are reported to be in the final stages of talks on an alliance.
Why it matters
Dropping a serving minister and several MLAs signals that AAP is trying to counter anti-incumbency after five years in power, while fielding sitting MPs brings some of its best-known faces into the state contest.
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