Chandigarh: Jailed former minister and AAP MLA from Patti , Laljit Singh Bhullar , announced on Facebook on Tuesday that he would not contest the 2027 Punjab assembly elections .




The post triggered BJP to raise serious concerns over mobile phone access inside state prisons and the administration’s functioning, with senior spokesperson Pritpal Singh Baliawal questioning whether Bhullar authored the post himself from custody and urged Bhullar’s family to clarify whether the post was authentic.




Bhullar has been in judicial custody since his March 23 arrest from Mandi Gobindgarh following the alleged suicide of Gagandeep Singh Randhawa , a Punjab State Warehousing Corporation district manager in Amritsar. Before consuming a poisonous substance on March 21, Randhawa recorded a purported video message accusing then transport and jails minister Bhullar of harassment and pressure. Randhawa’s wife, Upinder Kaur, also filed a complaint alleging her husband was coerced to approve a warehouse tender for Bhullar’s father, Sukhdev Singh. Bhullar maintained his innocence, but resigned on CM Bhagwant Mann ’s directions on March 21.




Bhullar, who won the Patti seat on an AAP ticket in 2022, wrote on his verified Facebook page that while he remains indebted to the people of Patti, he has chosen not to run despite their support.




“I have heard the sentiments expressed by the brothers and sisters of the Patti constituency regarding the party fielding me once again in the upcoming elections. However, I have decided not to contest the election,” it read.




The announcement comes after the AAP had already appointed wrestler-turned-politician Jaskanwar Singh Gill, known as Jassa Patti, as the Patti halqa in charge on July 28. Gill is also chairman of the Punjab Sports Welfare Board.




Patti was omitted from AAP’s first list of 40 candidates released on Oct 31, though another jailed former minister, Sanjeev Arora, arrested by the ED in May 2026 over an alleged GST money-laundering case, has been fielded from Ludhiana West.