AAP nominates Rajinder Gupta as Rajya Sabha candidate from Punjab

October 5, 2025

Punjab: The Aam Aadmi Party has announced Trident Group Chairman Rajinder Gupta as its candidate for the Rajya Sabha seat from Punjab. AAP National General Secretary Sandeep Pathak has released a letter to this effect.

Rajinder Gupta is considered one of Punjab’s wealthiest industrialists. His company has a turnover of approximately ₹5,000 crore. Speculation about Gupta’s Rajya Sabha election began on Saturday.

He had resigned from the post of Vice Chairman of Punjab Economic Policy and Planning Board and Chairman of Advisory Managing Committee of Kali Mata Temple Patiala.

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government accepted his resignation. It should be noted that a Rajya Sabha seat in Punjab had become vacant after Cabinet Minister Sanjeev Arora was elected MLA from the Ludhiana West constituency.

There was talk of Arvind Kejriwal and then Manish Sisodia contesting the Rajya Sabha elections from this seat. However, the party did not take this risk, fearing that sending an outsider from Punjab to the Rajya Sabha might anger Punjabis in the 2027 assembly elections.

The notification for the Rajya Sabha elections in Punjab will be issued tomorrow, October 6th. October 13th is the last date for nominations. After scrutiny on October 14th, nominations can be withdrawn until October 16th. Voting will take place on October 24th, with counting taking place that evening. Opposition parties Congress, SAD, and BJP have not yet decided whether to contest the elections.

Punjab currently has six Rajya Sabha members, all from the AAP. Gupta’s victory is also certain. Punjab currently has six Rajya Sabha members. All of them are AAP leaders. These include businessman Vikramjit Singh Sahni, Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal, AAP leaders Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak, former cricketer Harbhajan Singh, and Lovely Professional University (LPU) Chancellor and industrialist Ashok Mittal.

AAP’s victory in this election is certain. Currently, 93 of the 117 MLAs in Punjab belong to the Aam Aadmi Party. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) has three, the Congress has 16, the BJP has two, the Bahujan Samaj Party has one, and one independent MLA. One seat, Tarn Taran, is currently vacant.