Three Punjab AAP MLAs Quit and Join BJP in Delhiਤਿੰਨ ਪੰਜਾਬ ਆਪ ਵਿਧਾਇਕਾਂ ਨੇ ਪਾਰਟੀ ਛੱਡੀ, ਭਾਜਪਾ ਵਿੱਚ ਸ਼ਾਮਲ ਹੋਏ

Three sitting Aam Aadmi Party MLAs from Punjab have quit the ruling party and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, in the biggest political shake-up in the state since AAP released its first list of candidates for the 2027 Assembly elections. Amritsar North MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resigned from the Punjab Legislative Assembly on Monday, November 2, and all three legislators, Singh, Sanaur MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Samana MLA Chetan Singh Jouramajra, formally joined the BJP at the party headquarters in New Delhi the same day, ANI, IANS and Nation Press reported.

What happened in Delhi on Monday?

The three legislators were inducted into the BJP at its New Delhi headquarters on Monday, with the news agency ANI reporting the joining and photographs and video of the welcome circulating from the event. The switch completes a sequence that began on Sunday, when Pathanmajra and Jouramajra announced they were leaving AAP, and it turns what AAP had described as two sidelined legislators walking away into a three-seat loss for the ruling party months before the 2027 polls.

Singh, a former Indian Police Service officer who won Amritsar North in 2022, sent his resignation as an MLA to Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan on Monday. In the letter he shared publicly, he said his resignation takes effect from November 1. AAP had suspended him for five years in June 2025 for alleged anti-party activities, after he publicly opposed the arrest of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case.

How did the three exits unfold?

Pathanmajra, who represents Sanaur in Patiala district, and Jouramajra, a former Punjab minister who represents Samana, resigned from AAP's primary membership on Sunday, November 1, a day after the party released its first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 elections. Neither name was on the list, and the party had already appointed constituency in-charges in both Sanaur and Samana, which reports read as a sign that renomination was unlikely.

On Sunday, Singh had attacked AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, alleging the party had drifted away from the principles on which it was founded. Posting on X, he said he wanted to move beyond what he called the politics of lanes and ribbon-cutting, pledged to work to rescue Punjab from drugs, extortion, gangsterism and corruption, and said his sole purpose is Punjab First. He also said he had achieved about 90 per cent of the targets he set himself as an MLA, Nation Press reported.

How has AAP responded?

Earlier on Monday, IANS reported that AAP was preparing to approach Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan to seek the disqualification of Pathanmajra and Jouramajra, with the party maintaining that both had already been suspended for anti-party activities. After the Delhi joining, The Daily Jagran reported AAP leader Saurabh Bharadwaj dismissing the three departing legislators as leftovers. AAP had earlier rejected talk of a revolt, saying the two Patiala district MLAs had already been sidelined by the party.

What does this mean for the 2027 elections?

AAP won a commanding majority in Punjab in 2022, and Punjab is now the party's last major state stronghold. Three sitting legislators leaving within 48 hours, immediately after the first candidate list, exposes discontent over candidate selection that the opposition will use through the campaign. If the Assembly resignations are accepted, bypolls in Amritsar North, Sanaur and Samana are expected, and those contests would be an early test of the public mood before 2027. For the BJP, which was reduced to a marginal presence in Punjab in 2022, gaining three sitting MLAs brings local networks and credibility in constituencies where it has been weak.

Which three AAP MLAs joined the BJP?

Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh (Amritsar North), Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra (Sanaur) and Chetan Singh Jouramajra (Samana). All three formally joined the BJP at its New Delhi headquarters on Monday, November 2, 2026.

When did Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resign as MLA?

On Monday, November 2. He sent his resignation to Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan and said in his letter that it takes effect from November 1, 2026.

Why did the two Patiala district MLAs quit AAP?

Pathanmajra and Jouramajra resigned on November 1, a day after AAP's first list of 40 candidates for 2027 left them out. The party had already appointed constituency in-charges in Sanaur and Samana, making renomination look unlikely.

Will there be bypolls in the three seats?

If the Assembly resignations are accepted, bypolls in Amritsar North, Sanaur and Samana are expected. The Election Commission of India decides whether and when they are held.