Punjab First: Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resigns as MLA, third AAP leader to exit in two days

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is facing fresh political turbulence in Punjab, with Amritsar North MLA Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh announcing his resignation from the state Assembly on November 2. His decision comes just a day after two other sitting AAP legislators, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Chetan Singh Jouramajra, quit the party’s primary membership. Together, the developments have put the ruling party under pressure as it prepares for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.

Singh, a former Indian Police Service officer who was suspended by AAP last year, said his priority would remain Punjab’s development and the need for clean politics. But his exit also brings a long-running rift with the party leadership back into focus.

Why has Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh resigned as Punjab MLA?

In a resignation letter shared on social media, Singh wrote to Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan that he was giving up his seat in the House with effect from November 1, 2026. The letter was sent through email, WhatsApp and post. The Speaker’s formal acceptance is a separate step, so the resignation should not yet be treated as an officially confirmed vacancy.

In a message addressed to Amritsar residents, Singh thanked them for their support and said he would remain indebted to them “until my last breath”. He claimed to have achieved 90 per cent of the targets he had set as an MLA and said he had raised local concerns ranging from water and sewage to educational institutions and the Bargari sacrilege case.

He also criticised what he called the politics of “lanes and ribbon-cutting”, arguing that Punjab needed to confront drugs, extortion, gangsterism and corruption. His stated objective, he said, was “Punjab First”, with clean politics and transparent administration.

Why was the former IPS officer suspended by AAP?

Singh’s relationship with AAP had deteriorated well before his resignation. The party suspended him for five years on June 29, 2025, over alleged anti-party activities. According to The Indian Express, the action followed his criticism of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau’s arrest of Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia in a disproportionate assets case. Singh had questioned the manner in which the raid was conducted.

His background also made him a prominent figure in Punjab’s political and policing landscape. He served in the Punjab Police for more than two decades, including as an IPS officer, and was associated with the investigations into the 2015 Kotkapura and Behbal Kalan firing incidents linked to the sacrilege controversy. After taking premature retirement in 2021, he joined AAP and won the Amritsar North seat in the 2022 Assembly election.

Two more AAP MLAs quit after the first candidate list

Singh’s resignation follows the departure of Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra, the MLA from Sanaur, and Chetan Singh Jouramajra, who represents Samana. Both announced that they had left AAP’s primary membership on November 1, a day after the party released its first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 polls.

Neither leader featured in that list. AAP had appointed new constituency in-charges in both seats, fuelling speculation that the sitting MLAs might not be renominated. Pathanmajra and Jouramajra have also criticised aspects of the state government’s performance. The Hindustan Times reported that both announced plans to join the BJP.

What does the latest exit mean for AAP ahead of Punjab polls?

AAP swept the 2022 Punjab Assembly election, winning 92 of the state’s 117 seats and forming the government under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. The party has now begun announcing candidates early for the next contest, presenting the move as a sign of preparedness.

But the back-to-back exits expose tensions within its state unit at a crucial moment. The immediate question is whether more leaders will leave, and how the party manages the political fallout. With the 2027 election approaching, AAP will need to defend its record in government while keeping its organisation united.

(With inputs from ANI)