AAP announces the first list of candidates for the Punjab polls. CM Mann to contest from Dhuri, Sanjeev Arora to contest from Ludhiana Wesy

AAP's 1st Punjab list out, CM Mann to fight from Dhuri, jailed MLA also gets ticket

In the first list, the Aam Aadmi Party has retained its 37 incumbent MLAs. Jailed minister Sanjeev Arora has been fielded from the Jalandhar West assembly seat.

by · India Today

In Short

  • AAP has retained 40 of its incumbent MLAs in the first list
  • Jailed minister Sanjeev Arora will contest from Ludhiana West
  • Bhagwant Mann will contest from Dhuri, an AAP stronghold

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has released its first list of candidates for the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections, naming Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from the Dhuri assembly constituency and jailed minister Sanjeev Arora from the Ludhiana West seat. The party has also retained 40 sitting MLAs in its first list.

Dhuri is considered a stronghold of the Aam Aadmi Party. In the 2022 assembly elections, CM Mann secured a resounding victory as he defeated Congress's Dalvir Singh Goldy by a margin of 58,000 votes. The party also demonstrated strong performance in the latest civic body polls, where it swept 20 out of 21 wards in the Dhuri municipal council.

Keeping the significance of the seat in mind, Mann also launched the door-to-door campaign for the 2027 assembly polls from this seat. Theming it around 'Mann Da Munafa (The benefits of the Mann government) as the key narrative, the Chief Minister, on September 21, visited several households across his constituency. He met several residents, including women and elderly citizens, and gave them a 'report card' of his four-and-a-half-year-old governance.

Later that day, the Chief Minister wrote on X, "Today, I began the party’s door-to-door campaign from my constituency, Dhuri. We will go to every household with the report card of the work our government has done for Punjab over the past four and a half years. We have implemented all the guarantees we made in 2022 on the ground.

"With facilities such as free electricity, better schools and Aam Aadmi Clinics, every family is now saving around Rs 15,000 per month. We have delivered on our promises, which is why we are coming before you today with our heads held high," he added.

- Ends