Three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leaders from the Rajasansi constituency in Amritsar district announced on Friday, November 13, that they are quitting the party, a day after AAP named actress Sonia Mann as its candidate from the seat for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections. The most senior of the three, Punjab Dairy Development Board director Sukhdeep Singh Chhina, resigned from all party positions and relinquished his primary membership in a letter to AAP Punjab president Aman Arora.
Source: NewsD, Nov 13, 2026; ANI via DevDiscourse, Nov 13, 2026
This is a follow-up to Awaaz Punjab's November 12 story on AAP's second list of 31 candidates for the 2027 Punjab polls, which took the party to 71 declared names and dropped eight sitting MLAs, including Agriculture Minister Gurmeet Singh Khuddian. Friday's development is new: three local leaders in one constituency — Rajasansi — have actually resigned over the slate, they have not merely criticised it. Read the earlier story: AAP second list drops Minister Khuddian and ex-Minister Anmol Gagan Maan
"I, Sukhdeep Singh Chhina, hereby tender my resignation from all positions held in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and also relinquish my primary membership of the party," Chhina wrote in his letter to Arora, which was shared by the ANI news agency. The letter, dated November 12, gives no reason for the resignation. It also does not resign his government post as a director of the Punjab Dairy Development Board — he has quit the party, not the board, NewsD reported. Chhina had been with AAP for around 13 years.
Source: ANI via DevDiscourse, Nov 13, 2026; NewsD, Nov 13, 2026
Who else has quit, and what is reported about why
The other two leaders are Rajbir Singh, the former in-charge of the Rajasansi constituency organisation, who resigned his primary membership, and Gurdev Singh Joban Jhanjoti, the constituency coordinator of the party's Scheduled Castes wing, Dainik Bhaskar reported, in reporting summarised by Jugti. All three sent their resignation letters to Punjab president Aman Arora. On the reason: Chhina's own letter states none. ETV Bharat linked the exit to the Rajasansi ticket given to Sonia Mann, and The Tribune reported that the leader was unhappy that long-serving workers' seniority and contribution were not recognised in ticket decisions — Awaaz Punjab reports both as those outlets' reporting, not as a reason Chhina himself has stated.
Source: Jugti, Nov 13, 2026 (citing ETV Bharat, Dainik Bhaskar and The Tribune); NewsD, Nov 13, 2026
Who is Sonia Mann, the candidate at the centre of the row
Sonia Mann was named AAP's Rajasansi candidate in the second list released on November 12. NewsD reported that she is the daughter of left leader Baldev Singh Mann, who was killed by militants in 1986, that she comes from the Rajasansi area, appeared in Punjabi music videos and films before joining AAP in 2025, and has served as the party's Majha zone coordinator. After receiving the ticket she said, according to NewsD: "Thank you to the party leadership for giving me the ticket. I am confident of winning from the constituency. My mission is to continue with my father's dream of highlighting issues faced by farmers and labourers." She has also spoken of empowering girls, setting up an ITI college in the constituency and raising awareness against drug abuse, NewsD reported.
Source: NewsD, Nov 13, 2026
The wider slate, and the party's position
The resignations land on a slate that was already the party's biggest pre-poll shake-up: the November 12 second list of 31 names fielded 25 newcomers, dropped eight sitting MLAs including a serving minister and a former minister, and gave Assembly tickets to two sitting Lok Sabha MPs, with the first list of 40 having been released on October 31. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said on Friday that the party would seek votes on its development work and called the Khuddian decision a party matter, Jugti reported. In the reporting reviewed, the Punjab government had not responded to the Rajasansi departures, and AAP has given no official reason for the ticket choices the three leaders are reported to be protesting.
Source: Jugti, Nov 13, 2026; NewsD, Nov 13, 2026
The full second-list story — who was dropped, who was fielded, and the 71-seat tally — is here: AAP second list for Punjab 2027: Minister Khuddian and ex-Minister Anmol Gagan Maan dropped
What happens next: watch whether AAP's Punjab leadership accepts all three resignations, whether more constituency-level office-bearers follow in seats where sitting MLAs or local aspirants were passed over, and whether the party names its remaining 46 candidates without further fallout. For now the verified development is narrow and concrete: three named Rajasansi leaders have put resignation letters in to the state president, and the only stated document — Chhina's letter — gives no reason.