AAP retains Kulwant Singh from SAS Nagar
Former Mohali Mayor and real estate businessman won the 2022 Assembly election by defeating Congress candidate Balbir Singh Sidhu by 34,097 votes
Harvinder Kaur
Chandigarh, October 31, 2026: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has renominated sitting MLA Kulwant Singh from the SAS Nagar Assembly constituency for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, retaining him in its first list of 40 candidates announced on Saturday.
Kulwant Singh, who represents SAS Nagar (Mohali) in the Punjab Legislative Assembly, entered electoral politics at the state level in 2022 after a long association with the city’s municipal administration.
Also Read: Big Breaking: AAP releases list of 40 candidates
His political career spans nearly three decades, during which he served as a municipal councillor, president of the Municipal Council and the first Mayor of the Mohali Municipal Corporation.
Born on November 1, 1961, in Samana Kalan village of Rupnagar district, Kulwant Singh began his political journey in 1995 when he won the Municipal Council election from Ward 21 in Mohali.
He served as a councillor from 1995 to 2000 and subsequently held the positions of junior and senior vice-president of the civic body. He became president of the Municipal Council in November 2000 and remained in the position until November 2005.
After Mohali was upgraded to a Municipal Corporation, Singh became its first Mayor on August 28, 2015, and continued in the position until April 2020.
He also contested the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Fatehgarh Sahib but could not win the seat.
Kulwant Singh has also had associations with different political parties during his career.
He contested the 2014 parliamentary election on a Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance ticket. He later became associated with the SAD but was expelled from the party in January 2021 following differences over the municipal elections.
He subsequently formed the Azad Group in Mohali’s civic politics.
In December 2021, Singh joined the Aam Aadmi Party in the presence of Bhagwant Mann and party leader Raghav Chadha. The party announced him as its candidate from Mohali shortly afterwards.
Defeated Congress heavyweight Balbir Singh Sidhu in 2022
In the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections, Kulwant Singh won the SAS Nagar seat on an AAP ticket, defeating three-time MLA and former Punjab Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu of the Congress.
Kulwant Singh secured 77,134 votes against Sidhu’s 43,037, winning by a margin of 34,097 votes.
The victory was part of AAP’s sweeping performance in the 2022 Assembly elections, when the party won 92 of Punjab’s 117 seats.
Business background and wealth
Apart from politics, Kulwant Singh is a real estate businessman and the managing director associated with Janta Land Promoters Limited (JLPL).
According to his 2022 election affidavit, he has business interests in real estate and related companies.
His wealth also attracted attention during the 2022 Assembly elections, when he was reported to be among Punjab’s wealthiest candidates. A subsequent Indian Express profile in April 2025 described him as the state’s richest legislator, reporting declared assets of around Rs 1,000 crore.
In April 2025, the Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at properties linked to him as part of its investigation into the Pearl Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL) case. The searches were reported in connection with the ongoing investigation; they should not be treated as a finding of wrongdoing against him.
During his tenure as an MLA, Kulwant Singh served on several committees of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, including those dealing with Local Bodies, Subordinate Legislation, Public Accounts, Questions and References, and Estimates.
According to the Assembly’s official profile, he is the Chairman of the Committee on Local Bodies for 2025-26.
With the AAP announcing his candidature again from SAS Nagar, Singh will seek a second consecutive victory from the constituency in the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections.
The party’s first list of 40 candidates also includes Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann from Dhuri, Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan from Kotkapura, Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana West and Ajitpal Singh Kohli from Patiala.