AAP suspended Maur MLA Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana for alleged anti-party activities after he flagged teacher shortages.
Maiserkhana criticised the Punjab government, saying the shortage affected the school attended by his children.
AAP rejected his claims, saying 25 of 30 teaching posts at Bathinda’s School of Eminence were filled.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Saturday suspended Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana, its MLA from Maur in Punjab's Bathinda district, for alleged anti-party activities and indiscipline.
The action came barely an hour after the first-time legislator released a video criticising the state government's failure to address teacher shortages in government schools, including those attended by his two children.
Maiserkhana, the only MLA in the 117-member Punjab Assembly whose two children study in government schools, said he had repeatedly raised the issue with senior party leaders but received no satisfactory response.
In an emotional Facebook video, he expressed regret over enrolling his children in state-run schools, saying their future was at stake because of the shortage of teachers.
He also questioned the government's claims of an education revolution and said even Schools of Eminence, established as model institutions by the AAP government, lacked adequate teaching staff.
Who Is Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana?
Maiserkhana is a first-time MLA who represents the Maur Assembly constituency in Bathinda district. An agriculturist by profession, he won the seat in the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections by a margin of more than 35,000 votes.
An investigation by The Indian Express in March 2026 found that Maiserkhana was the only MLA in the state whose two children attended government schools. His son studies at a School of Eminence in Bathinda district, while his daughter is enrolled in another government primary school.
The investigation found that 36 MLAs had school-going children during the 2025-26 academic session. Of these, 31 belonged to the AAP, while the remaining legislators sent their children to private schools in India or educational institutions abroad.
Why Was He Suspended?
In his video, Maiserkhana alleged that repeated appeals to senior party leaders, including former Delhi education minister and Punjab affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia, had failed to resolve the shortage. He also claimed that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had not met him.
Questioning how the party would seek votes if schools continued to face such problems, the MLA said he would continue raising issues affecting students and their families, even if he was denied a ticket for the 2027 Assembly elections.
The AAP, however, rejected his allegations. In a statement, the party said his claim that only one teacher was working at a School of Eminence in Bathinda was contrary to official records issued by the school principal on September 29.
According to the party, the school had 30 sanctioned teaching posts, of which 25 were filled. Its staff included a principal, seven lecturers, 15 Master Cadre teachers and two computer science teachers. The school had 580 students across Classes 6 to 12 in 19 sections, the statement said.
The party acknowledged that five sanctioned posts were vacant but said the principal had submitted a written request to fill them and sanction additional posts where required.
The suspension order, issued by AAP state general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat, cited alleged anti-party activities and indiscipline, suspending Maiserkhana's primary membership with immediate effect.
