The Aam Aadmi Party has suspended its Maur MLA Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana from the party’s primary membership, hours after the legislator publicly questioned the Punjab government and his own party leadership over the shortage of teachers in government schools in his constituency.
The suspension order, issued by AAP Punjab state general secretary Harchand Singh Barsat, cited “anti-party activities and indiscipline” and said Maiserkhana’s primary membership had been suspended with immediate effect. The order did not provide details of the specific conduct that the party considered to constitute anti-party activity.
The action followed an emotional Facebook Live by Maiserkhana, who represents the Maur Assembly constituency in Bathinda district. During the roughly 14-minute broadcast, the MLA said he had repeatedly raised the issue of vacant teaching posts and inadequate staffing in government schools but had been unable to get the matter resolved.
Maiserkhana questioned the gap between the Punjab government’s claims about improvements in school education and what he said he was witnessing in schools in his constituency. He specifically referred to a School of Eminence attended by his children and said students were facing difficulties because of the shortage of teachers.
The MLA said he had taken up the matter with the party leadership, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Punjab affairs in-charge Manish Sisodia. He alleged that repeated requests to fill vacant teaching positions had not produced a solution.
His public intervention placed an internal AAP grievance at the centre of a wider debate over the Punjab government’s education programme. The issue is particularly significant because Maiserkhana had earlier attracted attention for sending his children to government schools. The Indian Express reported in March that he was the only Punjab MLA with school-going children whose children were studying in government schools during the 2025-26 academic session.
The timing of the controversy also comes amid continuing debate over teacher deployment in Punjab. In September, the state Education Department directed deputy commissioners to ensure that government teachers were not assigned non-academic duties and remained focused on teaching. The directive followed concerns over teachers being deployed for duties outside regular classroom work.
AAP, however, rejected the allegations and took disciplinary action against its MLA. In addition to citing anti-party activities and indiscipline, reports quoting the party’s position said Maiserkhana had been accused of spreading false rumours and damaging the party’s image. The party also disputed his account concerning the school he referred to, saying it had 25 teachers on its staff.
The episode has since drawn responses from opposition parties, with the BJP and Congress using the MLA’s allegations to question the AAP government’s claims on education. Those reactions are political responses to Maiserkhana’s allegations and do not independently establish the extent of teacher shortages in the schools concerned.
Maiserkhana, meanwhile, indicated during his Facebook Live that he intended to continue raising issues concerning his constituency even if it affected his political future. He also questioned why repeated representations about teachers had not resulted in action.
The suspension creates a significant political episode inside Punjab’s ruling party, with an elected AAP legislator publicly raising a governance grievance against his own government and the party responding with immediate disciplinary action. The underlying question of teacher availability in the affected schools, however, remains separate from the party’s disciplinary decision and will depend on official school staffing records and any corrective measures taken by the Education Department.
For now, the AAP’s decision has shifted the immediate focus from the original education complaint to the question of party discipline, while Maiserkhana’s allegations have opened a fresh debate over the implementation of Punjab’s government-school education policies at the constituency level.