AAP repeats 40 sitting MLAs for Punjab 2027; jailed Sanjeev Arora gets ticket

Chandigarh. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has named 40 sitting MLAs in its first list of candidates for the 2027 Punjab Assembly polls. Among them is former industries minister Sanjeev Arora, who has been in jail since May in a money laundering case.

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann will contest again from Dhuri in Sangrur district. Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan has been fielded from Kotkapura.

There is no new face on the list. All 40 are sitting AAP MLAs, according to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s list of members, and each will defend the seat they now hold.

Jailed MLA renominated

Arora’s ticket is the most striking choice on the list. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested him on May 9 in an alleged money laundering case linked to mobile phone exports worth about ₹102.50 crore.

The ED says Hampton Sky Realty Limited, a real estate firm, entered the mobile phone export business in 2023. It alleges the firm showed exports to two UAE-based companies and that several of its domestic suppliers were fake. Arora was earlier the chairman and managing director of the firm.

After his arrest, Mann stripped him of his cabinet duties. His portfolios went to ministers Tarunpreet Singh Sond, Harjot Singh Bains and Aman Arora.

On October 16, the Punjab and Haryana High Court dismissed his regular bail plea. The court said the material on record prima facie pointed to trade-based money laundering, and it also turned down his plea for bail on medical grounds.

Arora denies the charges. His lawyers argued that the exports were genuine and backed by customs records. AAP has called his arrest politically motivated.

Arora had won the Ludhiana West bypoll in 2025, defeating Congress leader Bharat Bhushan Ashu by 10,637 votes.

Ministers on the list

Apart from Arora, Mann is the only minister on the list. Deputy Speaker Jai Krishan Singh Rouri has been renominated from Garhshankar.

Three former ministers are back in the race:

– Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal (Ajnala). He was dropped from the Cabinet in July 2025 to make way for Arora.

– Bram Shanker Jimpa (Hoshiarpur) and Balkar Singh (Kartarpur). Both resigned from the Cabinet in a 2024 reshuffle.

None of the other serving ministers has been named yet. That includes Finance Minister Harpal Cheema and state AAP chief Aman Arora. Both sat in on the meetings that cleared the list.

‘Only voters’ feedback counted’

Mann said on Friday that “the only consideration for selection was the voters’ feedback”. He added that a third ticket was not assured even for MLAs who had won twice, and that winnability, as shown in a voter survey, would decide.

AAP’s Political Affairs Committee, the party’s top decision-making body, discussed the names at Arvind Kejriwal’s home in Delhi on Friday. It met again on Saturday before releasing the list. The list is signed by AAP national secretary Pankaj Kumar Gupta.

The list is far longer than expected. Party sources had said the first list could have up to 15 names.

Bypoll winner from Tarn Taran

Tarn Taran goes to Harmeet Singh Sandhu. A three-time former MLA from the seat, he joined AAP in July 2025. He had won as an Independent in 2002 and as an Akali Dal candidate in 2007 and 2012. He went on to win the November 2025 bypoll by 12,091 votes.

Malwa dominates

Of the 40 seats, 27 are in Malwa, eight in Doaba and five in Majha. Ludhiana district alone accounts for seven. Four women figure on the list: Inderjit Kaur Mann (Nakodar), Santosh Kataria (Balachaur), Dr Amandeep Kaur Arora (Moga) and Baljinder Kaur (Talwandi Sabo).

Stakes in 2027

AAP won 92 of Punjab’s 117 seats in 2022. It is now seeking a second straight term amid opposition attacks over law and order, drug trafficking, jobs and the state’s finances. Polling is expected in February 2027.

The party played safe last time too. Its first list for the 2022 polls had 10 names, all of them sitting MLAs.

AAP candidate list for Punjab 2027: full names

– Batala – Amansher Singh (Shery Kalsi)

– Ajnala – Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal

– Amritsar South – Dr Inderbir Singh Nijjar

– Tarn Taran – Harmeet Singh Sandhu

– Khem Karan – Sarvan Singh Dhun

– Nakodar – Inderjit Kaur Mann

– Kartarpur – Balkar Singh

– Dasuya – Karambir Singh Ghuman

– Urmar – Jasvir Singh Raja Gill

– Hoshiarpur – Bram Shanker Sharma Jimpa

– Chabbewal – Ishank Kumar Chabbewal

– Garhshankar – Jai Krishan Singh Rouri

– Balachaur – Santosh Kataria

– Rupnagar – Dinesh Chadha

– SAS Nagar (Mohali) – Kulwant Singh

– Fatehgarh Sahib – Lakhbir Singh Rai

– Amloh – Gurinder Singh Garry Waring

– Samrala – Jagtar Singh Diyalpura

– Ludhiana East – Daljit Singh Grewal Bhola

– Atam Nagar – Kulwant Singh Sidhu

– Ludhiana Central – Ashok Prashar Pappi

– Ludhiana West – Sanjeev Arora

– Ludhiana North – Chaudhary Madan Lal Bagga

– Payal – Manwinder Singh Giaspura

– Nihal Singh Wala – Manjit Singh Bilaspur

– Bagha Purana – Amritpal Singh Sukhanand

– Moga – Dr Amandeep Kaur Arora

– Dharamkot – Devinder Jeet Singh Laddi Dhos

– Jalalabad – Jagdeep Kamboj Goldy

– Fazilka – Narinderpal Singh Sawna

– Muktsar – Jagdeep Singh Kaka Brar

– Kotkapura – Kultar Singh Sandhwan

– Jaitu – Amolak Singh

– Talwandi Sabo – Baljinder Kaur

– Sardulgarh – Gurpreet Singh Banawali

– Bhadaur – Labh Singh Ugoke

– Mehal Kalan – Kulwant Singh Pandori

– Amargarh – Jaswant Singh Gajjan Majra

– Dhuri – Bhagwant Mann

– Patiala – Ajitpal Singh Kohli