Hours after he publicly criticised his own government over teacher vacancies and conditions in state-run schools, Punjab’s ruling Aam Aadmi Party suspended MLA Sukhveer Singh Maiserkhana, accusing him of anti-party activities.
Maiserkhana, who represents the Maur assembly constituency in Bathinda district, posted an emotional video on social media in which he questioned the government’s claims of an “education revolution” and said repeated efforts to raise problems concerning schools in his constituency had failed to produce results.
“My own children study in a government school,” Maiserkhana said in the video posted on Saturday. “When I ask them what they studied today, they tell me there was no teacher. The principal tells them, ‘Your father is an MLA, ask him to bring teachers.’ I am exhausted from raising this issue, but the condition of the schools has not improved.”
Maiserkhana’s children studying in the government school system have been independently reported previously. In March, The Indian Express reported that he was the only one among 36 Punjab legislators with school-going children, who attended government schools during the 2025-26 academic year.
The MLA said several teaching posts remained vacant and alleged that requests from school managements to fill them had gone unanswered. He also questioned why a school at Burj Sema had not been upgraded despite, according to him, meeting the required conditions, and raised concerns about staffing at a School of Eminence.
Maiserkhana said he had raised the matter with senior party leader Manish Sisodia and had also sought to meet Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann.
“Nothing can be more important than the education of children,” he said. “Even if a police case is registered against me after what I have said, I will not step back from my principles. I will continue to raise the issues of the people.”
Announcing disciplinary action against the legislator, AAP accused Maiserkhana of engaging in anti-party activities, spreading what it described as false claims against the party and damaging its image. The party disputed the legislator’s allegations about staffing and said the school he referred to already had 25 teachers.
The episode puts the spotlight on AAP’s education programme, one of the central policy themes of its government in Punjab, with criticism this time coming from within its own legislative ranks.