New Delhi: Three Punjab legislators from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Chetan Singh Jouramajra, Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra and Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday, months ahead of the state assembly elections.
Jouramajra, MLA from Samana, and Pathanmajra, MLA from Sanour, had resigned from the AAP’s primary membership on Sunday. Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh, who represents Amritsar North, resigned from both the party and the Punjab assembly on Monday.
The three legislators formally joined the BJP at its office in Delhi. BJP Punjab in-charge Satish Poonia and state president Kewal Singh Dhillon welcomed them into the party.
According to sources, Jouramajra and Pathanmajra joined without any political conditions, including assurances of election tickets. The BJP has reportedly decided to induct them without committing to nominations.
Sources also said the BJP’s central leadership had advised the Punjab unit to induct leaders whose public image was not tainted.
Jouramajra, Pathanmajra’s political background
Pathanmajra had won the Sanour assembly seat in 2022 by a margin of 49,122 votes. He was reportedly close to chief minister Bhagwant Mann’s family and was known in political circles as “Phupha”.
Punjab Police registered a rape case against him in September 2025 following a complaint by his former wife. He was arrested near Gwalior in March and later granted bail by the high court. He is also facing a case related to alleged illegal mining in Patiala district.
Jouramajra, a former cabinet minister in the AAP government, had reportedly been unhappy since the party appointed former minister Surjit Singh Rakhra as Samana constituency in-charge. He had won the seat in 2022 by defeating Rakhra by 39,713 votes.
He had also faced controversy during his tenure as health minister after asking Faridkot medical university vice-chancellor Dr Raj Bahadur to lie on a dirty mattress during an inspection at Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital.
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh had already been suspended
Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh had been suspended from the AAP for five years in June last year over alleged anti-party activities. The action followed his criticism of the Punjab Vigilance Bureau’s action against Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia, who was arrested in a disproportionate assets case.
He had repeatedly criticised the AAP government on several issues.
The latest defections come amid political realignments in Punjab ahead of the next assembly elections.
