AAP to Release Second List of Candidates for Punjab Assembly Elections Today

CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) may release its second list of candidates for the upcoming 2027 Punjab Assembly elections today. A meeting of the party’s Political Affairs Committee (PAC) is scheduled to be held in Delhi at 4 pm, which will also be attended by Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Sources said that the party may take decisions on six ministerial constituencies during the meeting. The second list is expected to include 15 to 20 candidates. The second list is likely to include the names of some cabinet ministers, sitting MLAs and constituency-level halqa in-charges. The party is expected to deliberate on the winnability of candidates and its electoral strategy before finalizing the names. There are also indications that tickets of some sitting MLAs may be dropped. CM Mann has left for Delhi to attend the meeting, which will be chaired by AAP convener Arvind Kejriwal. The meeting is expected to discuss the names of candidates for several Assembly constituencies as the party steps up the poll preparation. This list is expected to provide further clarity on the party's candidate selection exercise, particularly in constituencies where ministers, sitting legislators and local-level functionaries are being considered. Meanwhile, former transport minister and Patti MLA Laljit Singh Bhullar has announced that he will not contest the upcoming Assembly elections. Bhullar is currently lodged in jail. The candidature of several senior leaders and ministers who did not figure in the first list is also expected to come up during subsequent rounds of discussions. While AAP appeared to have played it safe with its first list by renominating all sitting MLAs, opposition parties questioned why no cabinet ministers had been renominated, with Sanjeev Arora, currently in judicial custody, being the sole exception.