Raghbir Singh Brar
Faridkot
October 31,2026
Despite allegedly tall claims of giving chance to common workers and volunteers, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today released its first list of 40 candidates for Punjab Assembly Elections 2027 with no new face.
All 40 are sitting MLAs who won in 2022.The list, Ref No. AAP/PB/10-26/001 dated 31-10-2026 and signed by National Secretary Pankaj Kr. Gupta, was released after Political Affairs Committee meeting in Delhi.
No Chance to WorkersParty supremo Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had allegedly repeatedly said that in 2027, hard-working volunteers and booth-level workers would be given tickets.
But the first list tells a different story.Not a single booth worker, youth wing leader, or common volunteer has found place in the 40. From Batala to Patiala, all tickets have gone to the sitting legislators.A senior AAP volunteer , on condition of anonymity, said, “We worked for five years hoping to get a chance.
But the high command trusts only MLAs.Inching Towards Family Fiefdom?
The party which came to power in 2022 on the slogan of ending family politics, seems to be inching towards the same path. While officially the list has sitting MLAs, party insiders say several seats are allegedly being kept for family members of senior leaders in the next list.
Even in this list, repeating all sitting MLAs, including tainted ones, has raised questions over internal democracy.Most talked about is Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana West Arora, who won the Ludhiana West bypoll earlier this year, was arrested by ED in May in a land allotment case and is still in jail. Yet the party has repeated him.
Malwa DominanceOut of 40, 27 seats are from Malwa, 9 from Doaba and only 4 from Majha. Only 4 women candidates – Ms Inderjit Kaur Mann (Nakodar), Dr Amandeep Kaur Arora (Moga), Ms Santosh Kataria (Balachaur) and Ms Baljinder Kaur (Talwandi Sabo).AAP has become the first party to announce candidates for the 2027 polls, which are due in Feb-March 2027. But by repeating all sitting MLAs, it has played safe and sent a clear message to its own cadre – wait for your turn.
Faridkot left to be declared
Gurdit Singh Sekhon,who is sitting MLA from Faridkot did not get the ticket in the first list.Arsh Sacchar,Gagandeep Dhaliwal are also contentenders of the ticket.But sources said that the ticket is most likely go to Sekhon though later.
Sekhon has his strong congress rival Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon while Kultar Singh would likely to face a tough fight againt congress contender Ajaypal Singh Sandhu.
Jaitu would see a tough fight between SAD’S most likely candidate Suba Singh Badal while congress has many stake holders on Jaitu reserved seat.
Sandhwan and the CM
The rumors were in rife earlier allegedly twice that Sandhwan was going to replace the CM.But nothing happened this way and Mann remained the CM.
The sources said that both did not allegedly shared cordial relations earlier which were allegedly patched up later on.
“AAP has no existence in the state minus Bhagwant Mann,said a man from Faridkot.