The AAP may be comfortably placed at the moment in the Punjab local body elections, whose results are out on Friday. However, the elections have exposed growing dissent, factionalism, and parallel power centres within the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) before the 2027 Assembly elections.

The crisis has come amid the urban local body elections, voting for which was held on May 26, that are being viewed as a semi-final to the 2027 Assembly elections for every major political party in the state.

As several leaders raised questions over the party’s working style, the sharpest infighting surfaced in Bathinda, where the contest appeared less between rival political parties and more within the AAP itself.

Jagroop Singh Gill, the AAP’s Bathinda Urban MLA, has expressed dissent over ticket distribution for the Bathinda Municipal Corporation elections.

Gill openly accused the party of handing over “decision-making powers to only one leader and his son”, who he claimed did not have a strong organisational background within the party. Naming Amarjeet Singh Mehta, president of the Punjab Cricket Association, and his son former Bathinda Mayor Padamjeet Singh Mehta, Gill alleged tickets were largely given to leaders who had recently joined the AAP from the Congress.

The tensions escalated further after gunshots were reported at the residence of Gill’s nephew Sukhdeep Singh Dhillon on the intervening night of May 25 and 26. Dhillon’s wife, backed by Gill, is contesting as an Independent candidate from Ward No. 3 in the Bathinda Municipal Corporation.

“The firing damaged the windshield of Dhillon’s car… Amarjeet Mehta along with his supporters came to that area around midnight… We lodged complaints seeking an FIR against the Mehtas, but an FIR was lodged against unidentified persons under pressure from ‘leaders in Chandigarh’,” said Gill.

“They can suspend me from the party… but I will not compromise with the principles on which the party was once formed. However, it seems that now our party is promoting money power and muscle power,” Gill added.

Drawing parallels with previous political battles in Bathinda, Gill said, “In 2021, then state finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal of the Congress won 43 out of 50 seats in the Bathinda Municipal Corporation by hook or by crook… Now, the Mehtas have contested the local body polls in a similar fashion in Bathinda, though from my own party.”

Gill, a former Congress leader, had joined the AAP in August 2021 and defeated then Congress minister Manpreet Singh Badal from Bathinda Urban in the 2022 Assembly elections.

Hinting at an uncertain political future, Gill said, “As an obedient son, I will try to save the house till my last efforts, but if parents (AAP high command) expel me, I will definitely move out and make my own way.”

Amarjeet Mehta, when asked about the “AAP versus AAP” scenario in Bathinda, said, “Sometimes one person in a family goes in the wrong direction, but that does not affect the value system of the entire family. Similarly, a political party is not affected by one person… My son, Padamjeet Mehta, had contested the bypoll from Ward No. 46 in 2024, which was vacated by Jagroop Singh Gill after he became an MLA. My son did so much work in the ward that Gill could not do over the past several years.”

But an AAP insider admitted that Gill’s outburst had exposed simmering tensions within the party. “This may not affect the local bodies polls much, but definitely can have an impact in the 2027 Assembly polls,” the insider said.

Internal discontent also surfaced during a recent meeting of AAP MLAs in Ludhiana, where Punjab Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khudian, before Manish Sisodia, reportedly objected to “wrong ticket distribution” in the Bathinda civic polls. Gill later “appreciated” Khudian for openly questioning “Delhi’s interference” in the Punjab AAP’s affairs.

In April, the AAP’s Sangrur MLA Narinder Kaur Bharaj publicly objected to the appointment of Bhawanigarh truck union president Malwinder Singh Mala, who was backed by AAP leader Gurmail Singh Gharachon. Bharaj said an election should have been held instead as one of her supporters, Lovely Kakkar, had emerged as a contender.

The tensions appeared unresolved during polling for the Bhawanigarh Municipal Council elections on Tuesday as both Bharaj and Gharachon were reportedly assigned separate wards to manage instead of Bharaj overseeing the entire campaign in her constituency. “Both were campaigning separately in their wards, which indicates that Gharachon can be a competitor to Bharaj in the Sangrur Assembly seat in the 2027 polls,” said a local political observer.

Confusion has also surfaced in Patiala district’s Samana after SAD rebel leader and former Samana MLA Surjit Singh Rakhra joined the AAP recently.

Following Rakhra’s induction, the AAP’s sitting Samana MLA Chetan Singh Jouramajra publicly stated he had no plans to quit. “A parallel force has been created in the party in Samana after the joining of Rakhra, which is creating confusion as to who will be the future Assembly poll candidate in 2027,” said a Samana-based voter.

Ahead of the urban local body poll results, voices of dissent within the ruling party became increasingly visible. While only a few leaders openly spoke for now, the emergence of competing camps and parallel leadership structures indicates that the AAP may face a more complex internal battle as Punjab gradually moves towards the 2027 Assembly elections.