Written by: Rajan Pandey
“You might start receiving messages just now that money has been credited to your accounts,” Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann told women at a government-organised programme in Dhuri town of Sangrur district in June. As he spoke, a number of women present at the function jubilantly rose to their feet amid the sound of SMS alerts and confirmed that they had indeed received the first instalment of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) under the AAP government‘s Mawan Dheeyan Satkar Yojana.
The DBT scheme, which provides a monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000–1,500 to women and girls above the age of 18 from the General and Scheduled Caste categories, was one of the Aam Aadmi Party’s key promises during the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections. Riding a massive wave of support, the AAP swept the polls, winning 92 of the state’s 117 Assembly seats.
“With this, we have fulfilled all the promises we made during the last election before completing our first term,” Mann declared. But do Punjab’s voters agree with their Chief Minister?
Welfare at Work: Roads, Electricity, Water and Pilgrimage Schemes
“We are getting free electricity, and the supply is also good. A normal family can easily manage within 300 units a month, and that’s free. It’s saving us a lot of money,” says Ravinder Singh, 39, who runs a small general store in Jalandhar.
His sentiment is echoed by many middle- and lower-income respondents across Punjab, who expressed satisfaction with the AAP government’s scheme of providing 300 units of free electricity per household every month.
Farmers are also praising improvements in irrigation and power supply.
“Earlier, we had to sacrifice our sleep because electricity for irrigation was supplied only at night in villages. Under Mann Sahib, we are getting power during the daytime, and the supply hours are also better,” said Gurveer Singh, a farmer from a remote village in Kapurthala district.
In the drought-prone Malwa region, farmers across several districts acknowledged that irrigation water and electricity supply have improved.
However, the business community is far less enthusiastic.
“Our business requires much more than 300 units. Forget getting it free—we pay higher commercial tariffs. What has AAP done for us businessmen?” asks Vishu Arora, 43, who runs a small garment manufacturing unit in Ludhiana, Punjab’s industrial hub.
Many business owners across the state said they are dissatisfied because the government has not announced any significant pro-business package or policy.
Some residents also questioned whether the state’s finances can sustain such welfare measures.
“The electricity department is going bankrupt because of free power. A few days ago our transformer burned out, and when we asked officials to repair it, they said they didn’t even have money for diesel to travel here. Residents of our locality pooled money to hire a vehicle so they could come and repair the transformer,” said Kartar Singh of Talwandi Sabo in Bathinda district.
The state’s mounting debt has become a subject of public debate. Recently, the Punjab Congress alleged that every child born in the state is “born with a debt of Rs 1 lakh” because of the government’s rising borrowings.
“Earlier, our depot workshops were stocked with spare parts, but now they are empty. We have to procure spare parts from outside and wait until payments are cleared,” said Siddharth Kumar, a contractual employee at a State Roadways workshop in Moga district.
While many government employees expressed dissatisfaction with the administration, a majority of ordinary voters appreciated welfare measures, including the free pilgrimage scheme.
The AAP government claims to have constructed or upgraded roads spanning 45,000 kilometres across the state. Many respondents agreed that the condition of roads, government schools and hospitals has improved.
Promises Delivered—and Those Left Unfulfilled
Manjit Singh, a retired professor from the Department of Sociology at Panjab University, Chandigarh, says AAP won the last election by promising jobs and an end to Punjab’s drug menace. However, he believes progress on both fronts has been limited.
“The drugs have not stopped at all,” was a refrain repeatedly heard across the Malwa, Majha and Doaba regions from both urban and rural respondents.
“Now drugs are coming through drones from across the border, and even if we complain against those selling them in our villages, the police take no action,” said Balkaran Singh, 52, who runs a dairy farm in Raja Sansi Assembly constituency in Amritsar district.
Experts believe that Punjab’s drug economy has become so entrenched that governments come and go without making a meaningful impact.
The AAP also promised stricter action against incidents of beadbi (sacrilege), which had become a major political issue during the previous SAD-BJP government.
However, its attempt to introduce a stricter anti-sacrilege law backfired after the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex Sikh religious body, opposed it, calling it unnecessary government interference in religious affairs.
The controversy surrounding a viral video allegedly showing a Bhagwant Mann lookalike disrespecting images of Sikh Gurus also put the government on the defensive. Although the AAP dismissed the video as fake, several Sikh organisations and opposition parties criticised the Chief Minister over the controversy.
The Rise of Waris Punjab De
Against this backdrop, a new political force—Shiromani Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De)—is emerging.
The party contested the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and won two seats. It is led by Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh, who is currently incarcerated in Assam under the National Security Act on charges linked to pro-Khalistan activities.
“Only Amritpal can free Punjab from the drug menace and restore Sikh glory. He is in jail making sacrifices for this cause,” said Ravinder Singh, 19, a student at a veterinary college in Bathinda Rural constituency.
Across Punjab, a noticeable section of Sikh youth appears to be rallying behind Amritpal Singh and Waris Punjab De. The recent controversy surrounding the film Satluj, which was reportedly screened in numerous gurdwaras across the state, has further fuelled this sentiment.
Political observers believe the party may contest all 117 Assembly seats and could emerge as a significant force, particularly in the Majha region, including Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts.
Political Situation: Congress, Akalis and the BJP
“The 2026 election is not going to be like the last one, when the AAP wave swept everyone aside,” says Professor Ashutosh Kumar of the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, Chandigarh.
While Shiromani Akali Dal, led by Sukhbir Singh Badal, appears yet to recover from the anti-incumbency it faced after a decade in power, both the Congress and the BJP are working aggressively to improve their prospects.
During a rally in Jalandhar in June, Prime Minister Narendra Modi described the AAP government as a “publicity government” that, according to him, focuses more on publicity than governance.
The Congress, meanwhile, is trying to contain factionalism among its senior leaders, including former Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi, Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Congress Legislature Party leader Partap Singh Bajwa, and former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.
The party recently claimed that it has deployed booth-level agents (BLAs) across almost all polling booths in Punjab. Having emerged as the principal opposition and won seven of the state’s 13 Lok Sabha seats in 2024, the Congress has much at stake in the upcoming Assembly election.
With an alliance between the BJP and Sukhbir Badal’s Akali Dal appearing unlikely, many experts believe the BJP—whose support base is concentrated among urban Hindu voters—may improve its performance but is unlikely to emerge as a dominant force. The party won only two seats in the 2022 Assembly election.
Professor Kumar, however, offers a note of caution.
“Though the main contest currently appears to be between the AAP and the Congress, ruling out the BJP would be a mistake. With its enormous organisational resources and political influence, the party could engineer defections from the principal contenders. Its performance is certainly likely to improve this time.”
Rajan Pandey is a freelance journalist.