Punjab Assembly Election 2027: BJP Hits Hard At Home, But Is Lahore Trip Uncertainty Distracting Bhagwant Mann From AAP?
· Free Press Journal
Even as Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann wonders whether the Central government will grant him permission to attend the World Punjabi Conference scheduled for November 26–27 in Lahore, the political ground appears to be shifting rapidly beneath his feet.
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Seizing the opportunity, Pakistan's provincial minister for minority affairs and chairman of the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee, Ramesh Singh Arora, has even offered to host Mann. However, no formal invitation has reportedly been extended to Mann by the Pakistani government.
With the Punjab Assembly elections just months away, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has suffered a major setback as three suspended MLAs — Chetan Singh Jouramajra, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh — joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Jouramajra represents Samana and Pathanmajra represents Sanour, while Singh is the legislator from the Amritsar North constituency.
How BJP Sounded The Poll Bugle In Punjab In April
While Chief Minister Mann visited Paris from October 17–21, 2026, to promote Markfed and Punjab's agricultural and food-processing products, only time will tell how much the visit will help the AAP politically in the forthcoming elections.
The BJP, on the other hand, sounded the poll bugle in April itself, when more than two-thirds of the AAP MPs in the Rajya Sabha reportedly quit the party and merged with the BJP. Among them were Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Ashok Mittal, Harbhajan Singh, Swati Maliwal, Vikram Sahney and Rajinder Gupta.
While Mann rushed to meet the President at Rashtrapati Bhavan, crying foul, the flurry of headlines gradually subsided. The BJP, meanwhile, quietly continued its groundwork to strengthen the party at the grassroots, even as the AAP appeared to grow complacent once the dust had settled. So much so that Chief Minister Mann could turn his attention to trips abroad.
Ironically, Mann was travelling to Finland and the Netherlands in April when Chadha and other AAP Rajya Sabha members reportedly sprang their political surprise by joining the BJP.
AAP's Electoral Surprise Falls Flat
Just as the AAP thought it was getting ahead in the electoral race by announcing its first list of 40 candidates for the Assembly elections on Saturday, October 31, the reported defections of Jouramajra and Pathanmajra came as a surprise on Sunday.
Interestingly, the AAP had not announced candidates for either Samana or Sanour in its first list. No announcement was made for Amritsar North either, although the list covered constituencies across all three major regions of Punjab.
In the Majha region, candidates were announced for constituencies such as Batala, Ajnala, Amritsar South, Tarn Taran and Khem Karan. In the Doaba region, candidates were declared for Nakodar, Kartarpur, Dasuya, Hoshiarpur and Chabbewal.
In the Malwa region, candidates were announced for constituencies including Ludhiana, Moga, Patiala, Dhuri (where Chief Minister Mann is slated to contest), Kotkapura and Talwandi Sabo, among others.
Why Deteriorating Law And Order Could Hurt AAP's Poll Prospects
Apart from the political setbacks, the killing of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota in broad daylight in Mansa district and the murder of Ashwani Devgan, an AAP sarpanch, in Tarn Taran last month have done little to improve public perception of the party, the state government and the chief minister himself.
The AAP lost Delhi last year despite the capital being its stronghold. It remains to be seen whether the party can retain Punjab in 2027 or face a similar electoral setback. Will the BJP's growing influence sweep the AAP out of power, or can the party's broom, its electoral symbol, sweep away its rivals once again?