Three AAP MLAs quit Punjab in 48 hours, party faces 2027 heat
Synopsis
Three AAP legislators in Punjab have quit within 48 hours — a rare, coordinated unravelling inside a ruling party with elections two years away. The exits expose a deepening rift between ground-level MLAs and the central leadership, with all three citing the same grievances: governance failures, law and order, and a drift from AAP's founding ideals.
Key Takeaways
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh , MLA from Amritsar North , resigned from the Punjab Legislative Assembly on 2 November 2026 , the third AAP legislator to quit in 48 hours .
He follows Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra (Sanaur) and Chetan Singh Jouramajra (Samana), who announced their exits on Sunday.
Kunwar Singh, a former IPS officer , was suspended by AAP for five years in June 2025 over alleged anti-party activities.
All three MLAs have cited failures on drugs, law and order, unemployment, and a departure from AAP 's founding Swaraj principles.
AAP has already announced its first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections , making the timing of the exits particularly damaging.
Amritsar North MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh on Monday, 2 November 2026, submitted his resignation from the Punjab Legislative Assembly, becoming the third Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislator to exit within 48 hours. The former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer reportedly addressed his resignation to Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, deepening the political turbulence within the ruling party ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.
The Three Departures
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh's exit follows the announcements by two other AAP legislators — Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra from Sanaur and Chetan Singh Jouramajra from Samana — who revealed their decisions to leave the party on Sunday. All three have independently cited dissatisfaction with the AAP leadership's governance approach and a departure from the party's founding principles. Pathanmajra and Jouramajra specifically raised concerns over drug trafficking, unemployment, farmers' grievances and overall governance under the Bhagwant Mann government.
Who Is Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh is a former senior police officer who joined AAP in 2021 and won the Amritsar North constituency in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, quickly emerging as one of the party's prominent faces in the state. His relationship with the party leadership, however, deteriorated steadily. In June 2025, AAP suspended him for five years over alleged anti-party activities. Despite the suspension, he continued to publicly criticise the party's functioning and the state government's policies.
What Kunwar Singh Alleged
On Sunday, Kunwar Singh launched a fresh attack on AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal and Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, alleging that the party had drifted away from the principles on which it was founded. Referring to the party's original ideology of Swaraj, he claimed AAP had lost its ideological direction. He also raised concerns over the law and order situation, drug menace, extortion, and gangster activities in Punjab.
Why This Matters for AAP in Punjab
The timing of the departures is particularly consequential. AAP has already begun preparations for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, having announced its first list of 40 candidates. Three simultaneous defections expose growing internal discontent within the party's Punjab unit at precisely the moment it is trying to consolidate its electoral position. This is the most visible sign yet of a widening rift between the state-level legislators and the central leadership. Notably, all three departing MLAs have echoed similar grievances — suggesting the discontent is systemic rather than individual.
What Happens Next
The resignations now await formal acceptance or rejection by Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan. It remains to be seen whether the departing legislators will contest the 2027 elections independently, align with opposition parties, or seek reinstatement. For AAP, the immediate challenge is to arrest further exits, manage the optics of internal dissent, and present a unified front as the election season approaches.
Point of View
Signalling confidence in Punjab, while its sitting MLAs are walking out. The party's suspension of Kunwar Singh in June 2025 without resolving the underlying disagreements now looks like a political miscalculation. Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann face a credibility test — not just in managing these exits, but in demonstrating that AAP's Punjab model is more than a one-cycle experiment.
NationPress
2 Nov 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Which three AAP MLAs resigned in Punjab within 48 hours?
The three AAP legislators who quit within 48 hours are Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh (Amritsar North), Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra (Sanaur), and Chetan Singh Jouramajra (Samana). All three cited dissatisfaction with the Bhagwant Mann government's performance and a departure from AAP's founding principles.
Why did Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resign from AAP?
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resigned alleging that AAP had drifted from its founding ideology of Swaraj and raising concerns over law and order, drug trafficking, extortion, and gangster activities in Punjab. He had already been suspended by the party for five years in June 2025 over alleged anti-party activities, but continued to criticise the leadership.
How does this affect AAP's prospects for the 2027 Punjab elections?
The three departures deal a reputational blow to AAP ahead of the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, exposing internal dissent at a time when the party has begun candidate selection. The simultaneous exits suggest systemic discontent rather than isolated grievances, complicating AAP's efforts to project unity.
What happens to the resignations now?
The resignations reportedly have been sent to Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan, who will formally accept or reject them. The political future of the three MLAs — whether they contest 2027 independently, join opposition parties, or seek reinstatement — remains unclear.
Who is Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh?
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh is a former senior IPS officer who joined AAP in 2021 and won the Amritsar North seat in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. He became one of AAP's prominent faces in the state before his relationship with the central leadership soured, leading to a five-year suspension in June 2025.
