By naming Mann in first list, AAP signal backing, confidence amid protests

Unlike in 2022, when Mann was named barely a month before polling, AAP has announced his candidature more than three months ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) naming Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as its candidate from Dhuri in the first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections is being seen as party leadership backing him at a time when protests against the government are intensifying, with demonstrators also demanding his resignation over the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota.

The timing marks a departure from the 2022 Assembly elections, when Mann, then the Sangrur MP and Punjab AAP president, was named the party's candidate from Dhuri on January 20, barely a month before polling on February 20. He figured in the penultimate list, with the final list released the following day.

This time, however, the party has named him at least three months before the state goes to polls. "Amid the demand by protesters in Mansa seeking his resignation, allotting him ticket ticket in the first list indicates that the party firmly stands with him," said an AAP insider.

Mann won Dhuri in 2022 by a margin of over 58,000 votes against Congress candidate Dalvir Singh Goldy. The constituency, however, has a history of electing candidates outside traditional party structures. It elected Independents on three occasions: Dhanwant Singh in 1992 and 1997, and Iqbal Singh Jhundan in 2007, who subsequently joined the Shiromani Akali Dal.

With nearly 1.66 lakh voters, according to the 2022 electoral figures, Dhuri is predominantly rural, comprising around 96 villages, with over 70 per cent of its electorate residing in rural areas. AAP sources said the early announcement would give candidates additional time to reach out to voters.

"Rivals are saying that after the Model Code of Conduct comes into force, people will protest against AAP candidates. An early announcement gives our leaders an extra edge for their outreach programmes," an AAP source said.

With Mann as Chief Minister, Dhuri received considerable attention, with more than a dozen libraries opened in rural areas of the constituency, besides one in Dhuri town. The constituency has also served as the launchpad for several government initiatives, including the Mawan Dhiyan Satkar Yojna on July 1, and both phases of the Mukh Mantri Teerath Yatra scheme, in November 2023 and October 2025.

The Meri Rasoi Yojna was also launched from Dhuri in May this year. More recently, Mann began the door-to-door 'Mann de Munafe' campaign from the constituency in the last week of September.

However, being the Chief Minister's constituency has also made Dhuri a focal point for protests. While Mann regularly holds Lok Milni programmes and other public interactions there, union members and protesters have alleged that they are detained or placed under house arrest ahead of his visits. Former Congress MLA Dalvir Singh Goldy has also been placed under house arrest three times in recent weeks after announcing that he wanted to question the Chief Minister.

Development works are expected to be a central plank of AAP's campaign in the constituency. Soon after Mann's name figured in the first list, local party leaders said the campaign would highlight projects undertaken by the government. In the first week of October, Mann laid the foundation stone of a Rs 46-crore water purification project in Dhuri to treat canal water before supplying it to residents.

Despite the expansion of the canal water supply network through additional pipelines, contaminated drinking water remains a concern in the area. The purification project is expected to address this long-standing civic issue.

The BJP, meanwhile, has been building its presence in the constituency. Onkar Singh, who earlier served as an Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to Mann in Dhuri, was removed from the post and subsequently joined the BJP. He has since been campaigning for the party in the area.

Former Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring too had expressed a desire in August 2026 to contest against Mann from Dhuri.

Mann's electoral journey has been closely linked to the Sangrur region. A comedian-turned-politician, he first contested the 2012 Assembly elections from Lehragaga on the People's Party of Punjab ticket but finished third with Congress' Rajinder Kaur Bhattal winning the seat.

He subsequently joined AAP and won the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat in 2014 by a margin of over two lakh votes, and retaining it in 2019 with a margin of over one lakh votes. In 2017, he unsuccessfully contested the Assembly election from Jalalabad against SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal.

In 2022, he won Dhuri, resigned from the Lok Sabha and was sworn in as Chief Minister. AAP, however, lost the subsequent Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll in June that year to Simranjit Singh Mann of SAD (Amritsar). The party regained the seat in 2024, when Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer won by a margin of over 1.7 lakh votes.

Mann has often described Sangrur as AAP's political capital, given the party's electoral presence in the region since his entry into the Lok Sabha in 2014. In the 2017 Assembly elections, when AAP won 22 seats across Punjab, five of its winning candidates came from the Sangrur Lok Sabha constituency.

Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation chairman Dalvir Singh Dhillon, who hails from Dhuri, welcomed Mann's inclusion in the first list. "It is a matter of happiness for the region. The upcoming Assembly elections would be fought on the basis of the development works carried out by the Punjab government under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann over the past five years, as well as the various welfare schemes implemented for the benefit of the people," he said.