New Delhi [India], October 31 : A meeting of the Punjab leadership of the Congress party was held at Indira Bhawan in Delhi on Saturday. 

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, and General Secretary K.C. Venugopal held direct-deliberation meetings at Indira Bhawan in New Delhi with key Punjab Congress leaders (including Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Partap Singh Bajwa, Charanjit Singh Channi, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, and Vijay Inder Singla) to address state unit factionalism ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections.

Meanwhile, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday also announced its first list of 40 candidates, naming Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri, Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan from Kotkapura and Minister Sanjeev Arora, who is currently in jail, from Ludhiana West.
The list also includes several other ministers, including Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal from Ajnala, Balkar Singh from Kartarpur, Jai Krishan Singh Rouri from Garhshankar, Kulwant Singh from S A S Nagar, and Labh Singh Ugoke from Bhadaur.
The candidates were finalised at a Political Affairs Committee (PAC) meeting convened at the residence of AAP National Convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday. The meeting was attended by Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, Punjab in-charge Manish Sisodia, Finance Minister Harpal Cheema and other PAC members.
On Wednesday, a delegation of the Election Commission of India (ECI) conducted a district-wise review of poll preparedness for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.
The ECI delegation comprised Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Pawan Kumar Sharma, Deputy Election Commissioner Bhanu Prakash Yeturu, Director General (IT) Seema Khanna, and Director General (Media) Ashish Goyal.
During the meeting, the delegation held detailed interactions with all 23 District Election Officers, Commissioners of Police, and Senior Superintendents of Police, who delivered comprehensive presentations detailing the status of election readiness in their respective districts.
The visiting officials emphasised strict compliance with ECI guidelines, complete transparency in administrative processes, timely execution of pre-poll activities, and robust enforcement measures across the state.
Reassuring the delegation, the Chief Electoral Officer of Punjab affirmed that all election-related tasks would be executed diligently and within stipulated timelines, adhering strictly to the instructions of the Election Commission to guarantee free, fair, transparent, and inclusive polls.