Manish Sisodia on Saturday defended the Aam Aadmi Party’s decision to hold a Political Affairs Committee meeting in Delhi. He said, "Other parties also do the same" when finalizing candidates for the upcoming Punjab elections. Many senior leaders attended this session to approve the first list of 40 party candidates.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia on Saturday defended party's decision to convene a high-level meeting of the Political Affairs Committee (PAC), the party's highest decision making body, to give the final approval to the names of 40 candidates announced in the first list for the upcoming Punjab elections. The party declared the names of 40 candidates in its first list for the upcoming Assembly elections in Punjab. The former Delhi minister said that AAP convening a meeting in Delhi is nothing unusual. All parties take the final decision in Delhi ahead of important developments like the release of names for an upcoming poll or to make any major announcement at key organizational level.
The meeting, in the national capital, was reportedly attended by AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, and party Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia, alongside AAP leader Satyendar Jain and Jasmine Shah. Meanwhile, Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Cheema and state AAP president Aman Arora joined the deliberations via video conferencing to coordinate inputs. On Wednesday, a delegation of the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted a district-wise review of poll preparedness for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections. The ECI delegation comprised Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma, Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu, Director General (IT)
Seema Khanna, and Director General (Media) Ashish Goyal. During the meeting, the delegation held detailed interactions with all 23 District Election Officers, Commissioners of Police, and Senior Superintendents of Police, who delivered comprehensive presentations detailing the status of election readiness in their respective districts. The visiting officials emphasised strict compliance with ECI guidelines, complete transparency in administrative processes, timely execution of pre-poll activities, and robust enforcement measures across the state. Reassuring the delegation, the Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab affirmed that all election-related tasks would be executed diligently and within stipulated timelines, adhering strictly to the instructions of the Election Commission to guarantee free, fair, transparent, and inclusive polls.