Lok Sabha elections | AAP’s Class of 2014: Gul Panag to Jassi Jasraj, where are they now?

Contesting the 2014 Lok Sabha polls under the banner of the Aam Aadmi Party, then a fledgling political outfit, four of them were elected to the lower House of the Parliament.

They included Dr Dharamvira Gandhi from Patiala, Harinder Singh Khalsa from Fatehgarh Sahib, Sadhu Singh from Faridkot, and Bhagwant Mann from Sangrur. However, a decade later, 10 of the 13 candidates have either left the party, or are politically inactive. In 2019, Mann, now the chief minister of Punjab, was the lone AAP MP who was re-elected to the Lok Sabha from Sangrur.

As AAP again contests all 13 Lok Sabha seats in Punjab, The Indian Express traces the path chosen by the members of its batch of 2014:

Harvinder Singh Phoolka

1) Harvinder Singh Phoolka

Status: Left AAP, politics

A senior Supreme Court lawyer who has been fighting for justice for 1984 anti-Sikh riots victims, Phoolka contested 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Ludhiana, and lost to Congress’s Ravneet Singh Bittu by a whisker. In 2017 Assembly polls, AAP fielded him from Dakha, a SAD bastion. He won, and was named Leader of Opposition in Punjab Vidhan Sabha. However, in 2018, he first resigned as LoP, then as the MLA and finally left AAP, necessitating bypoll in Dakha in 2019 (won by SAD). Now inactive in politics, Phoolka says: “The case of Congress leader Sajjan Kumar, an accused in the 1984 case, was coming up for final hearing in Delhi High Court and the Bar Council wasn’t allowing me to appear as I had the status of a minister. I had to resign as LoP to appear in the case. AAP leadership told me not to resign in the interest of the party and asked if 1984 cases were more important. I said yes they are, as I have spent my whole life fighting them. So, I told them I will quit politics”.

Jyoti Mann

2) Jyoti Mann

Status: Left AAP, politics

Among the youngest candidates fielded by AAP in 2014, Jyoti Mann, daughter of a safai karamchari (sweeper), had contested her maiden election from Jalandhar (SC) seat. She lost to Congress’s Santokh Singh Chaudhary, and eventually left AAP and politics.

“My only purpose to join AAP and politics was to serve the underprivileged. But soon I realized, AAP had become a “khaas” party, where there was no value of aam aadmi. So I thought it was better to continue my social work without any political platform,” says Mann.

Dr Dharamvira Gandhi

3) Dr Dharamvira Gandhi

Status: Suspended by AAP, now in Congress

A social worker and a cardiologist, Dr Dharamvira Gandhi, had emerged as a giant killer in his maiden election, defeating Congress’s Preneet Kaur, wife of former Punjab CM Capt Amarinder Singh, in the erstwhile royal family’s bastion. At the time, Preneet was three-time MP, having won consecutively from the seat since 1999. AAP suspended Gandhi in 2015 for “anti-party activities” after he questioned Delhi leadership’s interference in Punjab’s party affairs and spoke on action taken against Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav. He later floated Nawan Punjab Party (NPP), contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, and lost to Preneet. Now a vocal critic of AAP and Punjab CM Mann, he recently joined Congress and has been named as party’s candidate from Patiala.

“AAP had shown us big dreams of Swaraj (people’s rule) and ending VIP culture. I too dreamt of bringing a change with Kejriwal, Yadav and Bhushan. But soon I realized, he (Kejriwal) had tendencies of a dictator. Kejriwal became AAP, AAP became Kejriwal, and that was the end,” he says.

Harinder Singh Khalsa

4) Harinder Singh Khalsa

Status: Suspended from AAP, now in SAD

A former Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officer, he had resigned during his posting in Norway in 1984 to protest against Operation Bluestar. He lived in Norway under asylum for some years after facing allegations of being a supporter of Khalistan movement. He returned to India in 1990, and was elected to Lok Sabha from Bathinda in 1996 on SAD ticket. In 2014, he won from Fatehgarh Sahib as AAP candidate, only to be suspended from the party along with Gandhi in 2015. Ahead of general elections in 2019, Khalsa joined BJP but was denied ticket. At the fag end of 2020, he quit BJP to “support protesting farmers”. He re-joined SAD in February 2022 but is now largely inactive politically.

Sucha Singh Chhotepur

5) Sucha Singh Chhotepur

Status: Suspended from AAP, now in SAD

A former two-time MLA from erstwhile Dhariwal constituency of Gurdaspur (on SAD ticket in 1985 and Independent in 2002), Chhotepur, who also remained a minister in Surjit Singh Barnala government. He contested 2014 polls from Gurdaspur, but lost to BJP’s Vinod Khanna. Also AAP’s Punjab state convenor, he was removed from the post for allegedly “selling the tickets”, and left the party. He later floated Apna Punjab Party (APP) but finished fourth contesting from Gurdaspur in 2017 Assembly elections. He then re-joined SAD and unsuccessfully contested from Batala in 2022. “Even my opponents across parties said that anything can be true but not corruption allegations which were put on me by AAP. Till date they have failed to release any proof of me taking money for tickets,” he says.

Yamini Gomar

6) Yamini Gomar

Status: Resigned from AAP, now in Congress

Fielded from Hoshiarpur in 2014, Gomar, an English teacher, had lost to BJP’s Vijay Sampla. However, resigning from the party in December 2016, she wrote, “AAP has deviated from its core principles and ideology of Swaraj” and said that there was “no democracy left in the party.”

She later joined Congress. “I have no regrets of leaving AAP because things had started changing in the party. We had started a journey for Swaraj which vanished,” she says. Gomar has been declared Congress candidate from Hoshiarpur for June 1 Lok Sabha polls.

Bhai Baldeep Singh

7) Bhai Baldeep Singh

Status: Suspended from AAP, inactive in politics

A revered classical vocalist, percussionist and 13th generation exponent of Gurbani kirtan, Bhai Baldeep Singh contested from Khadoor Sahib, but lost to SAD’s Ranjit Singh Brahmpura. Suspended from AAP in 2015 for speaking up against ‘autocratic’ functioning of the party, he now says, “I was the first who stood up against the corruption in the party. My efforts to keep the party together were seen as an effort to stay close to Yogendra Yadav and Prashant Bhushan. Manish (Sisodia) then used to laugh at me for being too much of an idealist. I am a proud suspended AAPian. I don’t want tickets or posts.

Jassi Jasraj

8) Jassi Jasraj

Status: Expelled from AAP, now with BJP

Expelled from AAP in 2016 for “anti-party activities” after he had posted social media content against Kejriwal and Mann, Jassi Jasraj, an artiste, had unsuccessfully contested from Bathinda against SAD heavyweight Harsimrat Kaur Badal. In 2019, he unsuccessfully contested from Sangrur as Lok Insaaf Party (LIP) candidate. Ahead of 2022 Assembly elections, he joined BJP but is largely inactive politically.

Says Jasraj: “I had accepted the challenge to contest from Bathinda against Harsimrat when even Phoolka and Mann had refused. I wanted to do something for Punjab and had joined AAP hoping for a change but eventually I was expelled when I spoke against corrupt turncoats being inducted into the party. I joined BJP hoping it will work for Punjab’s development”.

Dr Daljit Singh

9) Dr Daljit Singh

Status: Expelled from AAP, deceased

A noted eye surgeon, he unsuccessfully contested from Amritsar against Congress’s Captain Amarinder Singh. Dr Singh was expelled by AAP for “anti-party activities” after differences with senior AAP leader Sanjay Singh. He joined the Congress in January 2017. He died later that year.

Himmat Singh Shergill

10) Himmat Singh Shergill

Status: Left politics, settled in Canada

An advocate, he had unsuccessfully contested against heavyweights such as Congress’s Ambika Soni and SAD’s Prem Singh Chadumajra from Anandpur Sahib. In 2017 Assembly elections, he again took on SAD heavyweight Bikram Singh Majithia but lost his security deposit. He eventually left politics but continues to support AAP. Now a barrister and solicitor in Canada, many AAP leaders recently attended his wedding.

The three that continue to be with the AAP:

Bhagwant Mann

Bhagwant Mann

Twice elected to Lok Sabha, in 2014 and 2019 from Sangrur, a stand-up comic and actor, Mann contested the 2022 Assembly election from Dhuri and rose to become chief minister of Punjab.

Sadhu Singh

Sadhu Singh

Elected to Lok Sabha from Faridkot in 2014, he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. A professor, his daughter Dr Baljit Kaur is a Cabinet minister in the Mann-led Punjab government.

Satnam Paul Kamboj

Satnam Paul Kamboj

A party volunteer and a lawyer, he unsuccessfully contested from Ferozepur in 2014. Kamboj says he sidelined himself from active politics due to some issues in the party “but never officially resigned”. “I continue to campaign for them at my own level but don’t have any post,” he says.

The Chandigarh Candidate

Gulkirat Kaur Panag, alias Gul Panag

Gulkirat Kaur Panag, alias Gul Panag

Status: Left AAP, politics

A known actor, model, and activist Gul Panag contested from Chandigarh in 2014 and had lost to BJP’s Kirron Kher. However, soon after, the daughter of Army veteran Lt Gen HS Panag (retired), she distanced herself from AAP’s political activities. In a post on X in 2018, Panag wrote that she had “repeatedly warned AAP about flirting with Khalistanis.”

“Poorly calculated flirtation that was. One I warned against. Repeatedly. It’s because they didn’t ‘get’ or ‘understand’ Punjab. Thought the K gang had electoral weightage. All of us from Punjab knew better. But alas!,” wrote Panag in the post on X in February 2018, months after Congress stormed to power in Punjab in 2017 Assembly elections. On leaving AAP, Panag, who actively supported farmers’ agitation thereafter, told The Indian Express: “I had resigned from AAP in June 2021 when I was working with the Sanyukt Kisan Morcha. That’s all I have to say on it.”