Punjab is preparing for the forthcoming assembly elections, which are due in 2027. The observers are taking particular interest in the elections as the political parties have already set their machinery in motion to work in favor of their respective parties, reposting posters, installing flags, and conducting rallies. This will be the 17th assembly election to Punjab since the turbulent 1990s, when the state recovered from one of the nation's longest periods under President's Rule, more than a decade between 1980's to 1992, during the height of the insurgency.
Punjab's election history since 1992 has been one of alternating political supremacy and alternating alliances. The February 1992 elections, in a fragile law-and-order scenario, witnessed a sweeping return of the Indian National Congress (INC) with a comfortable majority. The INC bagged 87 seats of a total of 117 and, after the elections, Beant Singh was sworn in as Chief Minister. The year witnessed the lowest polling of the year. The elections were claimed to have been conducted in an unfair manner and resisted boycott of the elections by the dominant Akali Dal groups which were accused of being responsible for the ongoing insurgency and historic low turnout. Beant Singh was elected the CM of Punjab on 19th February 1992.
Unfortunately, Beant Singh was killed in an explosion caused by a bomb planted in the secretariat complex building in Chandigarh on August 31, 1995. 17 other people along with 3 Indian commandos died in the explosion. His son Tej Parkash Singh was a politician in the Punjab government established by Harcharan Singh Brar who succeeded him.
Three consecutive CM in office this year had Harcharan Singh Brar being replaced by Rajinder Singh Brar who was Punjab's first woman CM. Bhattal was for two consecutive years, 1996-1997.
Political arena witnessed a change in 1997 when Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) formed an alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and took power. Punjab state had experienced this political alliance almost two decades.
SAD-BJP coalition swept the elections and Badal Singh was elected Chief Minister for the first of his several terms.
The SAD-BJP coalition followed this trend in the following few elections with Congress becoming a serial opposition, but succeeded in winning the 2007 and 2012 assembly elections as well. The 2012 elections were especially historic as it was the first time the ruling establishment got re-elected to power in the state with Badal once more taking up the role of Chief Minister. The 2002 election break came when the Congress Inc. came to power and Captain Amarinder Singh took up the role of Chief Minister while SAD-BJP was the ferocious opposition. The other important socio-political achievement accomplished in 2021 was when the Congress, in the midst of fratricidal battles, appointed Charanjit Singh Channi as its first Dalit Sikh Chief Minister of Punjab. Punjab still waits to be seen if a woman is ever appointed as Chief Minister. 2017 New polls ushered in the dawn of a new era. With the rise of Aam Aadmi Party from their first-time election outing in Punjab, the traditional SAD-BJP and INC bipolar contest was finally broken. Congress under Captain Amarinder Singh survived with managing to assemble the majority.
The Congress party under the leadership of Captain Amarinder Singh won the majority, but the only opposition party being AAP meant that the voter's mind was altering and searching for new options.
In the last assembly elections in 2022, AAP achieved its highest point when it won 92 seats out of the total 117 seats, thereby winning nearly 79% of the assembly.
Bhagwant Mann took oath as the Chief Minister, marking a new chapter in Punjab politics.
The long-standing SAD–BJP alliance ended with this election. SAD lead formed an alliance with the BSP whereas the BJP forged an alliance with Captain Amarinder Singh's Punjab Lok Congress (PLC). This splits political battle indicated the shifting political equations and trends of voters within the state. Punjab politics is rainbow-hued and ruthless with each political party gearing up to contest the next elections of 2027. Congress party, SAD, BJP, and BSP, and some regional parties are leaving no stone unturned to regain some political power and AAP is fighting tooth and nail to keep on maintaining it. In Ludhiana West by-election in June 2025, AAP's existing potency was re-established and opposition political parties were given a pulse check.
The irrevocability of measures before the elections will most probably be predetermined routines, which have been set up in previous elections. These procedures comprise the announcement of election dates by the Election Commission in the final months of 2026, campaigning and voting in the early months of 2027.
Political trends as of mid-2025, prior to the 2027 Punjab Assembly election, imply the following regarding alliances:
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) lead by Sukhbir Singh Badal has expressed keenness to resume its classic alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which had been in power together previously. BJP leadership, under Sunil Kumar Jakhar though, has officially declared that they will contest the 2027 assembly election on their own terms, rejecting an official alliance now.
BJP working president Ashwini Sharma clarified that BJP will contest all 117 assembly seats single-handedly in 2027, despite earlier emotional attempts by BJP state president Sunil Jakhar for an alliance between SAD and BJP.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which is ruling Punjab, will also contest single-handedly with no reported alliance till now.
Indian National Congress under the leadership of Amrinder Singh Raja Warring and other small parties like Bahujan Samaj Party, and political groups like Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) and Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) also will contest but no widely reported alliance has been formed among them.
In brief, at least one significant potential alliance in the talks is a potential SAD-BJP alliance, although BJP's current official line is to contest individually, reducing the number of official alliances. Other parties appear to contest individually or with concrete minor alliances. Therefore, political coalition formation in the 2027 Punjab assembly election is now fluid but possibly limited to no more than a single significant coalition, with BJP possibly running independently, thus fewer total alliances are cemented.