AAP Punjab dissent grows ahead of 2027 Assembly polls
Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana has now joined a growing number of the dissenting MLAs of the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Punjab, who have found themselves on the wrong side of the AAP leadership after raising questions about the functioning of the Bhagwant Mann-led party government.
The AAP suspended Maur MLA Maiserkhana Saturday for alleged “anti-party activities”, barely an hour after he released an emotional video accusing the Mann government of failing to address teacher shortage in state-run schools, including those attended by his two children.
Maiserkhana is the only MLA in the 117-member Punjab Assembly who sends his children to government schools.
He said he had repeatedly raised the issue with the government and the party leadership, including Chief Minister Mann and former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, but to no avail.
“I am not fighting against schools; I am fighting for them,” he said, adding that he could no longer accept the prevailing situation.
Asking what wrong he had done to the AAP, he also indicated that he may be denied party ticket in the Punjab Assembly elections slated for February 2027.
Seizing on Maiserkhana’s comments, the Opposition – including the Congress, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP – slammed the Mann government, underlining that the AAP’s own MLA has “debunked” its claims about bringing an “education revolution” in the state.
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On its part, the AAP rejected Maiserkhana’s allegations as false, accusing him of attempting to defame the party.
AAP discontent
There are other AAP MLAs who have run into trouble after openly questioning the party dispensation on various issues.
In September 2025, Sanour MLA Harmit Singh Pathanmajra had criticised the AAP government’s handling of the floods and objected to what he described as “interference” by the party’s Delhi leadership. Subsequently, his security cover was withdrawn. He was also booked by Patiala police in a three-year-old case on charges of rape, cheating and criminal intimidation. Pathanmajra claimed that this case was “politically motivated” and accused the government of targeting him. The Opposition, too, linked the police action to his dissent, even as the AAP maintained that law was taking its course against wrongdoing.
Before Pathanmajra, Amritsar North MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh was suspended from the AAP for five years in June 2025 after he opposed the arrest of SAD leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case, questioning the manner in which the Vigilance Bureau had conducted the raid.
Oppn sharpens attacks
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The latest rumbling within the AAP has come against the backdrop of a major rupture in the party in April, when seven of its 10 Rajya Sabha MPs crossed over to the BJP. Six of them including Raghav Chadha, Sandeep Pathak, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Rajinder Gupta, Ashok Mittal and Harbhajan Singh were from Punjab. The seven MPs invoked the two-thirds defection provision and their merger with the BJP was subsequently accepted by the Rajya Sabha Chairman.
For a party that stormed to power by sweeping the Punjab polls in 2022, winning 92 of the state’s 117 seats, the exodus of its Rajya Sabha MPs and growing number of dissenting MLAs have led to the Opposition cornering the AAP over its internal cohesion ahead of the 2027 elections.
New Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) president Pargat Singh alleged Maiserkhana had “exposed the false education revolution claims and dictatorship of the AAP government”.
Noting that Maiserkhana was the only MLA who had enrolled his children in a government school, Singh said that like many Punjabis the former had also been influenced by the AAP’s claims about the “Delhi model” and its education reforms. “Today, the MLA (Maiserkhana) has himself brought out the reality of the shortage of teachers and facilities in schools, as well as how his demands for schools have been ignored,” he said.
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Pargat Singh asked whether the voice of any AAP MLA was being heard on issues concerning Punjab and its people. He alleged that Punjab was being run by the AAP leaders from Delhi without keeping in view the interests of the state.
Singh also appealed to other AAP MLAs to “find the courage” to stand up for Punjab and oppose what he called the “dictatorship” of those controlling the government. “With only a few months left (for the elections), the fight now is for Punjab’s voice, its rights and its future,” he said.
Defending his party, state AAP general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat told The Indian Express that dissent surfaces even within a family. “But if the leaders have any issue due to any dissatisfaction, they should raise it at the party level. They should be disciplined. If dissent is aired publicly then the party has the right to take disciplinary action,” he said.
