Punjab Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sunil Jakhar has written to the Punjab Governor, urging him to recommend to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) be enforced in the state at the earliest, citing a sharply deteriorating law and order situation. Jakhar, speaking to reporters in Chandigarh on 29 October 2026, said the party would also approach the ECI directly to push for early enforcement ahead of the forthcoming Assembly elections.

Key Allegations and the Law and Order Claim

The former Punjab BJP president argued that the Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government had itself acknowledged the state's worsening security environment. As evidence, Jakhar pointed to the cancellation of an anti-drug marathon in Abohar — an event that had drawn thousands of young participants annually — on the grounds that the prevailing atmosphere was 'unfavourable.' He said the written cancellation notice from the government amounted to an official admission of a law and order breakdown.

Jakhar alleged that drug-related violence had spread to virtually every district, naming Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Khem Karan, Gurdaspur, Hargobindpur, Mansa, Abohar, Sangrur, and Ludhiana as among the worst-affected areas. He claimed that voices speaking out against the drug menace were being silenced, and that even police had allegedly removed the bodies of children who died from drug use, suppressing public protest.

BJP's Demand for Early Elections

Jakhar said the BJP's core concern was that if the AAP government remained in power any longer, conditions for free and fair elections — ones where voters could exercise their franchise without fear — would become impossible to ensure. He framed the early enforcement of the MCC not as a political manoeuvre but as a safeguard for democratic process in the state.

The party's move to approach the Governor is significant: while the ECI independently decides on election schedules and the MCC, a gubernatorial reference could add formal weight to the BJP's petition. Critics, however, are likely to argue that the demand is a tactical escalation ahead of a scheduled election cycle.

Allegations Against the AAP Government

Jakhar levelled a series of sharp allegations against the AAP administration. He alleged that the Chief Minister's Office had become a 'hub of corruption,' that pliant officers had been deliberately appointed, and that criminals and gangsters were either being inducted into the party or given state protection. He attributed these developments to what he described as a deliberate political strategy.

He also invoked remarks attributed to AAP's senior leader Manish Sisodia, quoting him as having stated that the party would use 'every means to win elections — persuasion, inducements, punishment, division, confrontation, lies or truth.' BJP used this purported statement to argue that the government's approach to governance was inherently coercive. NationPress could not independently verify the quote's full context.

What Happens Next

The BJP has indicated it will formally approach the Election Commission of India in the coming days. The AAP government has not yet issued a response to Jakhar's allegations. With Punjab's Assembly elections on the horizon, the BJP's escalation signals the start of an aggressive pre-election campaign framed around law and order — a theme that dominated the 2022 Punjab polls as well. How the ECI and Governor respond to the formal petition will be closely watched.