The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday named 40 candidates for the next Punjab Assembly election, with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann again contesting from Dhuri in Sangrur district, The Hindu reported.
Others on the list include Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan from Kotkapura, Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Ajnala, Inderbir Singh Nijjar from Amritsar South, Kulwant Singh from SAS Nagar and Brham Shankar Sharma "Jimpa" from Hoshiarpur.
The list also names Minister Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana West. The Hindu reported that he is in jail in an alleged money laundering case.
How many are sitting MLAs
Reports differ. Business Today said the party had retained 37 sitting MLAs among the 40, while The Hindu and Daijiworld said the list was made up only of sitting MLAs.
Mann told reporters that the party's Political Affairs Committee discussed the tickets in detail. "Those candidates who received a positive response in the public surveys were considered. Forty tickets have been finalised," he said, adding: "New faces will also get a chance."
He said it was the party's principle to name candidates three to four months before polls so that they could take the government's work to voters.
Why it matters
The list is an early bet on continuity by a party defending a very large majority. AAP won 92 of Punjab's 117 seats in 2022, and the Assembly's term ends on March 16, 2027, The Hindu reported.
Mann himself defeated Congress's Dalvir Singh Goldy in Dhuri in 2022 by around 58,000 votes, Business Today reported, adding that polling is expected in February 2027.
What next
The 40 names cover about 34% of the seats, leaving 77 to be decided. Daijiworld reported that a second list is expected next week, and that attention will turn to whether the party keeps relying on sitting MLAs or brings in new faces.