AmritsarSeptember 15, 2025 05:09 PM IST
First published on: Sep 15, 2025 at 05:09 PM IST
Manjinder Singh Lalpura’s political journey is a cautionary tale of ambition, influence, and controversies.
From working as a taxi driver in Tarn Taran to becoming one of the most talked-about legislators in Punjab, the 40-year-old Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLA from Khadoor Sahib has travelled a long road. But his recent conviction in a molestation case has cast a long shadow over a career marked as much by sharp rise as by turbulence.
Lalpura’s biggest blow came last week after a Punjab court convicted him and six policemen of molesting a 19-year-old Dalit woman during a 2013 wedding in Tarn Taran. The four-year prison sentence has cast a shadow on his Assembly membership.
Born in Lalpura village of Tarn Taran, Lalpura entered politics in 2015 when he joined the AAP, quickly rising through the ranks to become the district president and youth wing leader.
Known for his aggressive style and grassroots connect, he became a visible presence in the party’s early campaigns in the Majha region. The momentum did not immediately translate into electoral success as he secured just over 13,000 votes, finishing fourth and losing his deposit from the Khadoor Sahib seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Success came knocking three years later when, in the 2022 Assembly elections, he defeated Congress’s Ramanjit Singh Sikki by more than 16,000 votes.
While the victory cemented his place as a rising force in the Majha region, he was denied a Cabinet berth despite his proximity to the AAP’s Delhi leadership, reportedly because of the five criminal cases pending against him. His election affidavit listed charges ranging from criminal intimidation and assault on women to rioting with deadly weapons and offences linked to disobedience of government orders.
Lalpura’s influence within the party continued to grow. He was appointed AAP Majha zone vice-president in May, seen by many as recognition of his organisational reach. He also played a key role in inducting Laljit Singh Bhullar, now the state’s Transport Minister, into the party.
Within the administration too, his clout was evident. His complaints against Tarn Taran SSPs Gurmeet Singh Chauhan and Abhimanyu Rana are believed to have influenced their transfers. In 2023, he accused Chauhan of corruption to implicate his relative in a sand mining case, and this year, accused Rana of concealing facts to falsely implicate 50 people, including a sarpanch, in a murder case.
Party insiders said Lalpura earned a reputation for “getting the work done by hook or crook” through his aggressive and combative leadership style, which is often characterised by rivals as offensive.
In September 2024, an investigation by The Indian Express linked his constituency to an alleged panchayat funds scam. According to the report, Baljeet Singh, brother of AAP leader Ranjit Singh Cheema, was siphoning off funds through Cowberry AGROVET OPC Private Limited, a firm dealing in cattle feed and water coolers. Baljeet, who became a contractor with the water resources department in 2023, was alleged to have benefited from projects sanctioned in villages under Khadoor Sahib, many of which were incomplete or never started. The probe was initiated after an RTI activist, Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, filed a complaint exposing the irregularities.