The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has intensified its preparations for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, stepping up efforts to expand its presence in rural areas and increase its vote share as it seeks to emerge as a credible challenger to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), the Congress and the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). Sources within the BJP told The Sunday Guardian that the party is pursuing a multi-pronged strategy centred on strengthening its organisational network in rural Punjab, widening its social outreach and drawing on the expertise of leaders familiar with the state’s political dynamics. As part of this exercise, the BJP is likely to task Sandeep Pathak with an important role as he played a crucial organisational role in AAP’s Punjab campaign and helped build the party’s election machinery ahead of its decisive victory in the 2022 Assembly polls. Raghav Chadha, another key figure associated with AAP’s Punjab campaign and its subsequent electoral success, is also emerging as an important factor in the BJP’s assessment of the state’s political landscape. Sources said the two leaders could be assigned roles aimed at helping the BJP strengthen its understanding of Punjab’s political and organisational dynamics in the coming months.
However, the party is expected to retain its own organisational machinery and local leadership at the centre of its strategy, using inputs from multiple quarters. “Elections are often won through slogans and narratives, but enduring success hinges on the organisation,” a source said, adding that Pathak’s reduced influence within AAP could offer the BJP an opportunity to study and potentially replicate some of the organisational mechanisms that contributed to the party’s rise in Punjab. Pathak was associated with several systems that helped AAP establish a formidable electoral organisation in the state, including surveys, cadre-building, boothlevel management and micro-level election planning. With the AAP government facing growing criticism over governance and signs of anti-incumbency, the BJP believes there is an opportunity to challenge the ruling party’s organisational advantage, particularly across rural Punjab. Senior political analyst Ravindra Singh Sheoran told The Sunday Guardian that the BJP draws inputs from several sources but does not depend on any one individual or mechanism for its election strategy. “The BJP takes inputs from multiple sources and follows a parallel system of assessment and decision-making.
Sandeep Pathak is also being consulted in a similar manner. However, the BJP’s own organisational machinery continues to function independently alongside such inputs. Whether it is party functionaries, agencies engaged by the party, or the RSS, all of them work simultaneously on the ground,” Sheoran said. According to Sheoran, Pathak is likely to provide inputs, but the final call will remain with the BJP’s state leadership, followed by the central leadership in Delhi. “Pathak is important because he has a lot of internal information, so his inputs can be useful but the BJP is not going to project him as a big political figure,” he said.
The BJP’s Punjab strategy extends beyond organisational expansion, with the party also working to recalibrate its social equations and broaden its appeal among communities where it has traditionally had a limited support base. The recent visits by senior BJP leaders, along with the launch of the ‘Samrasta Sankalp Abhiyan’, are being viewed as part of this wider outreach. The campaign, which will continue from Guru Purnima to Magh Purnima next year, seeks to take Guru Ravidas’s message of social harmony and equality to a wider section of society. The party is also seeking to strengthen its connect with the Ravidassia community, which has a substantial presence in Punjab and could prove electorally significant across several constituencies. At the political level, the BJP has stepped up its attack on the AAP government, targeting it over law and order, alleged examination paper leaks and administrative shortcomings.
The party has also described the AAP government as “kattar beiman” (thoroughly dishonest). The BJP has simultaneously sought to capitalise on factionalism and leadership tensions within the Congress, while taking aim at its former ally, the SAD, accusing it of being more focused on internal matters than issues concerning the public. Through this approach, the BJP is attempting to project itself as an alternative to all three major political formations in Punjab. Moreover, BJP is seeking to capitalise on the political space created by perceived anti-incumbency against the AAP government and internal divisions within the Congress. “The BJP has initiated robust preparations by focusing on expanding social outreach, strengthening the organisation, inducting new leaders and pushing a development agenda,” the analyst said. However, the BJP faces significant challenges in translating its organisational push into electoral gains.
