Just ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections, a huge political earthquake has hit the ruling party. As a result of growing conflict and dissatisfaction with the party leadership, three rebel MLAs from Punjab left the Aam Aadmi Party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Chetan Singh Jauramajra formally joined the saffron camp in the national capital Delhi.
This dramatic political shift happened just a few days after the Aam Aadmi Party announced its first list of 40 candidates for the Punjab Assembly elections. Angered by not finding their names in the first list and by the responsibility of their constituencies being handed over to other leaders, Sanaur constituency MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Samana constituency MLA Chetan Singh Jauramajra resigned from the primary membership of the party on Sunday.
Pathanmajra announced his decision to leave the party by sending a resignation letter to the party’s national convener Arvind Kejriwal. Meanwhile, former cabinet minister in the Bhagwant Mann government, Chetan Singh Jauramajra, made his departure public through social media. In the recent past, Jauramajra’s conflict with the party leadership had increased after former Shiromani Akali Dal leader Surjit Singh Rakhra was given charge of the Samana constituency.
On the other hand, Amritsar North constituency MLA and former IPS officer Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resigned from his MLA post on Monday. Submitting his resignation letter to Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, Singh said that the decision would be effective from November 1.
It is worth mentioning that in June 2025, the Aam Aadmi Party had suspended Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh for five years on charges of anti-party activities for openly criticizing the Vigilance Department’s investigation against Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case.
Soon after resigning from the Assembly, the former IPS officer sent a message to the people of Amritsar. The MLA said that to free the state from the grip of drugs, extortion, goonda-raj and corruption and to bring it back on the path of development, a transparent administration and clean politics is needed. Stating that his sole goal is ‘Punjab First’, he also clarified that he has no personal interest.
In the 2022 Assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party formed the government in Punjab by winning 92 out of 117 seats. But as the Assembly elections approach, the resignation and joining of BJP by three MLAs at once is being considered a major political blow to the ruling party.
