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.

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 Dhuri and jailed minister Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana West. The party has also retained 40 sitting MLAs in its first list.

Dhuri is considered an AAP stronghold. In the 2022 Assembly elections, Mann secured a resounding victory from the constituency, defeating Congress's Dalvir Singh Goldy by a margin of 58,000 votes. The party also performed strongly in the latest civic body polls, winning 20 of the 21 wards in the Dhuri municipal council.

Mann has also chosen Dhuri to launch his door-to-door campaign for the 2027 Assembly elections. On September 21, he visited several households across the constituency as part of the campaign, themed around 'Mann Da Munafa' (the benefits of the Mann government). He met residents, including women and elderly citizens, and shared a report card of his government's four-and-a-half-year tenure.

Later that day, Mann 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.

Meanwhile, the people of Punjab might witness an interesting poll battle in Dhuri. As per media sources, jailed MP and the chief of Akali Dal (Waris De Punjab), Amritpal Singh, is also considering contesting from Dhuri. A report by the Tribune mentioned that the Khadoor Sahib MP might consider this seat along with the Khadoor Sahib assembly seat.

SANJEEV ARORA TO CONTEST FROM LUDHIANA WEST

The Aam Aadmi Party has also backed Sanjeev Arora from the Ludhiana West seat. Arora won the constituency in the 2025 by-election. In 2022, AAP's Gurpreet Singh Gogi won from this traditional Congress stronghold.

In the bypoll, Arora defeated Congress's Bharat Bhushan Ashu by a margin of 10,637 votes.

Meanwhile, in May 2026, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Arora after conducting searches at his official residence in Chandigarh and other premises in connection with a money laundering probe. A court subsequently sent him to seven days of ED custody.

The case was registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED alleged that the probe involved fake GST purchases of mobile phones worth over Rs 100 crore and their subsequent exports, which were allegedly used to route illicit funds from Dubai to India. The agency also alleged that fake purchase bills were obtained from non-existent firms to claim fraudulent input tax credit.

The raids came less than a month after the ED searched Arora and linked entities on April 17 under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA). During that probe, the agency provisionally attached movable and immovable assets worth Rs 157.12 crore linked to Arora, Hampton Sky Realty Ltd and related entities.

- Ends