The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) naming Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as its candidate from Dhuri in the first list of 40 candidates for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections is being seen as party leadership backing him at a time when protests against the government are intensifying, with demonstrators also demanding his resignation over the murder of anti-drug activist Parvinder Singh Jhota.

The timing marks a departure from the 2022 Assembly elections, when Mann, then the Sangrur MP and Punjab AAP president, was named the party’s candidate from Dhuri on January 20, barely a month before polling on February 20. He figured in the penultimate list, with the final list released the following day.

This time, however, the party has named him at least three months before the state goes to polls.…