Punjab poll shake-up: 3 AAP MLAs join BJP to give Kejriwal's party a jolt before 2027 elections

In a setback for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, three former party leaders, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, Chetan Singh Jouramajra and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at its headquarters in New Delhi on Monday.

The BJP announced their induction in a post on X. A video shared by news agency ANI showed Pathanmajra and Jouramajra raising slogans of "BJP Zindabad" during the induction.

The development comes amid growing dissent within AAP, a day after Pathanmajra and Jouramajra resigned from the party following the announcement of its first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 Assembly elections.


AAP's first list triggers resignations

Pathanmajra, the MLA from Sanaur, and Jouramajra, who represents Samana, resigned from AAP on Sunday, November 1. Neither constituency featured in the party's first list of 40 candidates.

Also read: Suspended AAP MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap resigns as member of Punjab Assembly

Jouramajra, a former Punjab minister, had been dropped from the state Cabinet in September 2024.

Both leaders had criticised the Bhagwant Mann-led government over issues including Punjab's drug crisis, rising state debt, governance and unfulfilled promises.

AAP had suspended both MLAs over alleged anti-party activities before they resigned from the party, according to TOI.

The party has said it will approach the Punjab Assembly Speaker seeking cancellation of their legislative membership.

Pathanmajra faces rape allegations; was on the run

Pathanmajra's induction into the BJP comes against the backdrop of a rape case registered against him in September 2025.

According to TOI, a woman from Zirakpur accused the MLA of misrepresenting himself as divorced before entering into a relationship with her.

Also read: CEC Gyanesh Kumar will have to quit and go to jail: Rahul Gandhi

The complainant alleged that Pathanmajra married her in 2021 while still being legally married to another woman, and accused him of sexual exploitation and threats.

Police registered an FIR against him under charges including rape, cheating and criminal intimidation.

TOI reported that Pathanmajra allegedly evaded arrest during a police operation in Karnal in September 2025. According to the police account cited by the newspaper, he fled after allegedly opening fire at the police team, with a policeman sustaining injuries during the incident.

Pathanmajra remained on the run for several months before being arrested from Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior in March 2026. A court had declared him a proclaimed offender in December 2025 after he failed to appear in the case.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him regular bail in May 2026.

The MLA had also publicly criticised the AAP government over its handling of floods in his constituency, alleging that officials had ignored his demands to clean and desilt rivers. The state government had withdrawn his security cover shortly before the police operation.

Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resigns from Assembly

Separately, Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, the suspended AAP MLA from Amritsar North, tendered his resignation from the Punjab Legislative Assembly on Monday.

The former IPS officer submitted his resignation to Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, writing: "I hereby tender my resignation of my seat in the House with effect from 1.11.2026."

He also confirmed the decision on Facebook, stating that he had resigned from the membership of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

In a post on X, Singh thanked the people of Amritsar for their support and called for efforts to address Punjab's problems, including drugs, extortion, gangsterism and corruption.

"My sole purpose is 'Punjab First'. Apart from this, I will have no personal interests," he wrote.

Singh, a former member of the Punjab Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) that probed the 2015 Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan police firing cases, was suspended from AAP for five years in June 2025 over alleged anti-party activities.

The suspension followed his criticism of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau's actions against Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia and his repeated questioning of the state government's handling of sacrilege cases.

AAP's first list of 40 candidates

AAP's first list for the 2027 elections includes Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri, Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan from Kotkapura and currently jailed minister Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana West.

The list also features ministers Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Ajnala, Balkar Singh from Kartarpur, Jai Krishan Singh Rouri from Garhshankar, Kulwant Singh from SAS Nagar and Labh Singh Ugoke from Bhadaur.

Reacting to the defections, Punjab AAP president Aman Arora criticised the BJP for inducting leaders who had resigned from or been expelled by other parties.

AAP chief spokesperson Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal called the BJP a "kabaad di dukaan" (scrap shop), accusing it of accumulating rejected political figures.

AAP came to power in Punjab in 2022, winning a majority in the 117-member Assembly. The latest defections come as parties begin preparing for the 2027 polls.