Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann on Saturday formally launched the Aam Aadmi Party’s campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections from Ludhiana, placing his government’s four-and-a-half-year record at the centre of the party’s election pitch.
Mann released AAP’s election pamphlet at the indoor stadium on Pakhowal Road during a party workers’ meeting and this launch will be followed by a statewide door-to-door campaign from September 20, with the Chief Minister scheduled to participate in the first phase from his Assembly constituency, Dhuri.
The party has said the campaign will run through booth-level committees across Punjab.
According to AAP, Punjab has 25,332 polling booths and 2,68,553 booth committee members will take part in the campaign and party workers will visit households to explain the government’s work, schemes and promises made during the 2022 Assembly election. A membership drive will run alongside the outreach programme.
Addressing the gathering, Mann said the government had delivered more than what it had promised in 2022, and he said the party would now go before people with an account of the work already completed instead of making a fresh set of promises, he also asked party workers to tell people about the government’s work and seek their feedback on what still needs to be done.
Mann highlighted the Road Safety Force as one of the government’s major initiatives.
He said around 5,400 people used to die in road accidents in Punjab every year and claimed the SSF had helped save about 2,700 lives in one year and he also referred to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari’s appreciation of the force.
The Chief Minister also spoke about toll plazas and road safety, and said 19 toll plazas had been closed during his government’s tenure and claimed the closures were saving people around Rs 64 lakh every day, he also said the government had also taken steps to maintain roads and respond to road hazards, including during night hours. On electricity supply to farmers, Mann said the government had promised eight hours of supply but had not specified that it would be provided during the day, he said farmers were now receiving electricity during daytime hours. He added that when the scheduled supply falls short on a particular day, farmers are informed through mobile messages and the shortfall is compensated the following day.
Mann also announced that a three-month phase of financial assistance for women would begin on October 1 and he said political opponents had also filled out forms for the scheme but had not spoken publicly about it.
The Chief Minister targeted previous governments while discussing the drug issue in Punjab and said the drug problem had grown during earlier BJP-Akali governments and recalled that former Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh had also sought votes on a promise to eliminate drugs.
These were political claims made by Mann at the event.
Mann also said opponents could use AI-generated videos to spread misinformation against him. He said criticism increases whenever his government attempts to change existing systems.
The next step in the campaign will take place on September 20, when Mann joins the door-to-door outreach in Dhuri, from there, AAP plans to expand the campaign through its booth committees across Punjab ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.