Bhagwant Mann Expands Cabinet In Punjab, Inducts Five New Faces Including Newly Elected AAP MLA Mohinder Bhagat

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has inducted five new faces into his cabinet on Monday (23 September) including Mohinder Bhagat, who won Jalandhar West seat in the July assembly by-poll.

Along with Bhagat, four others—Barinder Kumar Goyal, Tarunpreet Singh Sondh, Hardeep Singh Mundian, and Dr Ravjot Singh—were also appointed ministers in the cabinet reshuffle.

During the by-poll campaign, Mann has promised to make Bhagat a Minister in his Cabinet if Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) emerges victorious in the seat.

66-year-old Bhagat secured a decisive victory over the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Sheetal Angural, the former AAP MLA for the constituency who defected earlier this year.

Bhagat won by a significant margin of 37,325 votes, while Angural garnered 17,921 votes, and Congress candidate Surinder Kaur received 16,757 votes. The Shiromani Akali Dal's candidate, Surjeet Kaur, finished fourth.

The son of BJP veteran and former three-time MLA and minister Chunni Lal Bhagat, Mohinder Bhagat joined AAP last year after losing the 2017 election on a BJP ticket to Congress’s Sushil Kumar Rinku.

Rinku later defected to AAP in 2023 and then to BJP before the Lok Sabha polls. Bhagat’s departure from the BJP disappointed his father, who publicly expressed his sorrow.

Despite this, Chunni Lal Bhagat later urged voters to support his son in the by-poll. Mann campaigned heavily for Bhagat, focusing on promises to improve civic amenities, education, and healthcare in the constituency.

AAP’s backing of Bhagat was rooted in his extensive political experience and deep ties to the constituency, built on his father’s long-standing political legacy, which dates back to the 1990s.