Bhagwant Mann is Aam Aadmi Party’s CM face for Punjab Assembly polls, announces Arvind Kejriwal

Bhagwant Mann will be aap'S Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab assembly polls.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), on January 18, said that its two-time Member of Parliament (MP) Bhagwant Mann will be party's Chief Ministerial candidate for the upcoming Punjab assembly polls.

The announcement regarding the Punjab elections was made by the party’s national convenor and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in Mohali.

"Bhagwant Mann is my younger brother. Had I named him, people would have raised questions. But we asked people and we received more than 21 lakh responses," Kejriwal said. Last week, Kejriwal had asked people to suggest names of their preferred choice for chief ministerial candidate, even as he indicated that his own preference was Mann.

"Bhagwant Mann received more than 93 per cent of the votes received through phone and WhatsApp," he said.  Around 3 per cent respondents suggested the name of Navjot Singh Sidhu, the Punjab Congress chief. A few votes that were in favour of Mr Kejriwal were declared invalid.

Punjab will go to the polls in a single phase on February 20 and the counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Mann, 48 represents Sangrur seat in Punjab's electorally decisive Malwa belt, is also AAP's state president. He won the Lok Sabha seat twice in 2014 and 2019. Born in Satoj village of Sangrur district in 1973, Mann was a comedian and an actor before jumping into politics.

READ: MC Election Update January 18: Modi to interact with BJP workers virtually; AAP to name Punjab CM candidate

In the 2017 Punjab Assembly polls, Congress won a majority by bagging 77 seats and ousted the Shiromani Akali Dal- Bharatiya Janata Party government after 10 years.

The AAP emerged as the second-largest party winning 20 seats in 117-member Punjab Legislative Assembly. SAD could only manage to win 15 seats while the BJP bagged three seats.

AAP did not name its CM face in 2017 polls.

Boosted by the internal crisis in the ruling Congress and the falling out of the SAD-BJP alliance over the farm laws, Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP is being considered in the Congress' main opposition polls.

Also, read : Can AAP win Punjab, or will it see a repeat of 2017?

The party, in power in Delhi, has made a host of promises, that includes replicating the Delhi model of governance in the state with focus on free power, water, doorstep services, health and education.