Chandigarh: The Bharatiya Janata Party's Punjab unit on Sunday stepped up its preparations for the 2027 Assembly elections, with state president Kewal Singh Dhillon constituting a State Manifesto Committee and a State Chargesheet Committee. According to the party statement, the appointments were made through letters issued under Dhillon's signature, and he said a few more important committees would be announced in the coming days.

Source: BJP Punjab press statement via India News Calling

Khanna to head 13-member manifesto committee

Former state president and former Rajya Sabha member Avinash Rai Khanna has been appointed chairman of the State Manifesto Committee, which will draft the party's election manifesto for 2027. Its members are Manpreet Singh Badal, Ashwani Sharma, Manoranjan Kalia, Som Parkash, Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi, Ashwani Sekhri, Satnam Singh Sandhu, Raghav Chadha, Rajinder Gupta, Harbhajan Singh, Parampal Kaur and advocate H.S. Phoolka — 13 members in all, including former ministers, former legislators, MPs and senior party office-bearers, the party statement said.

Jakhar to chair 14-member chargesheet committee

Former state president and former MP Sunil Jakhar has been appointed chairman of the State Chargesheet Committee, the panel tasked with compiling the party's chargesheet of allegations against the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government. Its members are Iqbal Singh Lalpura, Vijay Sampla, Shwet Malik, Maharani Preneet Kaur, Ravneet Singh Bittu, Dinesh Babbu, Sushil Rinku, Geja Ram, Vikramjit Singh Sahney, Ashok Mittal, Sandeep Pathak, S.S. Channi and Jagmeet Singh Brar — 14 members in all, the statement said.

The BJP has said it will contest all 117 Assembly seats in Punjab on its own in 2027. The two committees are being seen as a significant organisational step in that preparation: the manifesto panel brings together experience from former ministers and MPs to write the party's poll platform, while the chargesheet panel has been given the distinct responsibility of building the opposition case against the ruling AAP government.

In a related development the same day, a delegation of Sewa Kendra employees met Jakhar in Chandigarh. Jakhar assured the delegation that the BJP stands with them and that the party would spell out its commitments on their demands in its manifesto. He alleged that the contractor running the centres was paying employees below the minimum wage while the Mann government took no action — an allegation the state government has not responded to in the reports reviewed. There was also no immediate AAP response to the committee announcements.