Rebellion in AAP in Punjab: 2 MLAs resign after first candidate list

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab is facing its first major wave of internal rebellion following the release of its initial candidate list for the 2027 Assembly elections. Two sitting MLAs, Chetan Singh Jouramajra from Samana and Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra from Sanaur, have resigned from the party's primary membership.

Both MLAs confirmed their resignations to The Indian Express. “I have resigned. Rest I will tell later,” Pathanmajra stated. Jouramajra, a former Cabinet minister, similarly confirmed his departure from the party. “I have resigned.

I don't have my heart into the party. Situation of Punjab is heartbreaking. We will talk later,” he said. Neither Jouramajra nor Pathanmajra featured on the AAP’s first list, which named candidates across 40 constituencies.

Renomination for the duo appeared unlikely after the party previously appointed Assembly halqa in-charges in their respective constituencies, signalling potential candidate replacements ahead of the upcoming polls. The resignations come as the AAP top leadership attempts to project its early announcement of candidates, making it the first political outfit in Punjab to declare names for the 2027 elections, as a tactical advantage.

However, the move has brought underlying discontent within the party's ranks to the surface. Pathanmajra had previously established himself as a prominent dissident voice after publicly criticising the party's Delhi leadership.

He was later arrested in connection with a rape case and is currently out on bail, leaving his standing with the central leadership severely strained. Jouramajra, who served as a minister in Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's Cabinet, was removed from his ministerial post following a public controversy involving renowned orthopaedic surgeon Dr Raj Bahadur.

The dispute erupted after Dr Bahadur, then Vice-Chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, was made to lie on a dirty mattress at a government hospital during a ministerial inspection. The double exit represents the first major political fallout from the AAP’s candidate selection process in Punjab.

Kanchan Vasdev is a Senior Assistant Editor in The Indian Express’ Punjab bureau. She is a highly ex... Read More