CHANDIGARH: With less than four months to go before the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections, the political battle in the state is moving beyond rally grounds and public stages to roads and villages.
As parties step up their outreach, yatras, cycle campaigns and constituency-level marches are being employed as key instruments to connect with voters.
Leading the Congress’s outreach offensive, former chief minister and Jalandhar MP Charanjit Singh Channi will launch the ‘Jawani Sambhal Cycle Yatra’ from Chamkaur Sahib on November 12.
Around 2,000 cyclists are expected to participate in the campaign, which aims to cover nearly 90 of Punjab’s 117 Assembly constituencies.
The first leg will be an eight-day, 625-km journey, concluding at Khanna on November 19 after passing through 27 constituencies. Punjab Congress affairs in-charge Sachin Pilot will flag off the yatra.
Two subsequent legs are proposed from Amritsar to Dera Baba Nanak in the Majha region and from Amritsar to Hussainiwala in Ferozepur, covering parts of Majha and Malwa. The party is planning four cycle yatras during November and December.
In each constituency, participants will also hold marches and seek public feedback on illegal mining, drug abuse and law and order. The campaign will be the Congress’s first major statewide outreach after Rahul Gandhi’s recent rally in Sangrur.
Channi said the campaign would focus on the drug menace, corruption and deteriorating law and order. “If one has to take care of the state and run it properly, one has to look after the youth,” he said, alleging that drugs had devastated the younger generation.
Describing the campaign as ‘Punjab Mange Insaaf’, he alleged that “there is home delivery of chitta under this government” and claimed that gangsterism had made life increasingly insecure. “I will go out in the state and listen to the public, including farmers, youth and women, and understand their pain,” he said.
Beyond its political messaging, the cycle yatra will also test the Congress’s ability to project unity. The high command wants senior leaders, including PCC president Pargat Singh, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, Partap Singh Bajwa and Vijay Inder Singla, to participate together.
However, internal differences remain visible. An initial yatra poster omitted Warring’s photograph, prompting the release of a revised version after the omission was flagged. Party insiders said Rahul Gandhi could join the campaign depending on his schedule. A proposed bus yatra by him is also under consideration.
The Shiromani Akali Dal is preparing its own statewide offensive. Party president Sukhbir Singh Badal will launch the ‘Punjab Bachao Yatra’ from Takht Damdama Sahib on November 15.
Its first leg, running until November 22, will cover 14 constituencies. SAD spokesperson Daljit Singh Cheema said Badal would “share his vision with the people, the damage caused to the state under the present government and how to save Punjab.”
The BJP, meanwhile, has already completed its 13-day, 4,000-km ‘Nasha Mukt Punjab Yatra’, held from September 18 to 30, culminating in a Jalandhar rally addressed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.