While visiting Delhi’s Jantar Mantar to support the protest of students and youths demanding Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s resignation on July 20, Punjab education minister and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Harjot Singh Bains would not have anticipated that he will soon face a similar demand in his state slated for the Assembly polls in February 2027.While Pradhan was forced to resign five days later, the Opposition parties in Punjab have now intensified their campaign against Bains, which seemed to have been fuelled by remarks made by senior AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia.AdvertisementDuring his visit to Jantar Mantar on July 19 to back the protesters’ call for Pradhan’s sacking over the NEET paper leak, Sisodia, in an interview with a web channel, said: “If any such paper leak happens in Punjab, then I, (Arvind) Kejriwal and (CM Bhagwant) Mann sahab together will immediately sack Punjab’s education minister… Not a single paper has leaked in Punjab in the past four years.”Seizing on Sisodia’s statement, the Opposition parties raked up various cases of alleged paper leaks and irregularities in exams under the AAP regime – including a recent pharmacy officers’ recruitment exam – to press for Bains’ resignation.Last Saturday, when Sisodia returned to Jantar Mantar to join celebrations after Pradhan’s resignation, some protesters cornered him too, questioning him about the AAP government’s response to the pharmacy exam “leak”.Exam rowsAdvertisementNotwithstanding the claims made by CM Mann, Bains and Sisodia that “not a single paper leak has happened in Punjab in the last four-and-half years of the AAP gvernment”, there have been various cases of alleged exam malpractices during this period.Read | CJP warns of protest again, says students arrested, being harassedPunjab Police recently busted a “cheating racket” in the pharmacy officers’ recruitment exam, held at Baba Farid University of Health Sciences in Faridkot on July 19. Some candidates allegedly carried a pen camera inside the exam hall to photograph the question paper. The images were sent via WhatsApp to the accused outside, who allegedly sent back their answers to some candidates through wireless communication in lieu of Rs 3.5 lakh to Rs 13 lakh bribe, as per the police.On February 24, 2023, the state’s Class 12 English board exam was cancelled after the paper had allegedly been leaked minutes before its start. The exam was rescheduled with Bains ordering a high-level inquiry into it.On March 13, 2023, the Punjab State Teachers Eligibility Test (PSTET)’s paper-2 exam was cancelled after correct answers for at least 50 multiple-choice questions were found to be highlighted in bold in the question paper. The exam was reconducted while two Guru Nanak Dev University professors were suspended over the row.In June 2024, the Agriculture Development Officers (ADOs) recruitment exam in the state was embroiled in an alleged leak controversy, with some aspirants alleging, in a complaint to the CM’s office, that a senior official had taken Rs 32 lakh bribe to “leak” the paper. The Mann government had denied the allegations.Oppn’s onslaughtListing several alleged paper leak cases during the AAP’s tenure, Congress MLA and ex-education minister Pargat Singh, in an X post, said: “CM Bhagwant Mann’s claim that not a single paper leak has occurred under his govt does not match the records… Over the past 4 years, Punjab has witnessed repeated controversies involving Naib tehsildar, PSTET, PSEB class 12, ADO, PSSSB Group B and now the 454 Pharmacists recruitment exam… Instead of denying the problem, the government must answer.”Targeting the AAP government, Punjab Congress president and MP Amrinder Singh Raja Warring demanded that CM Mann should “set a timeline” for Bains’ resignation, saying “Practise in Punjab what you preach in Delhi. Your leader Arvind Kejriwal has congratulated students for forcing Pradhan to resign over paper leaks, now it is your turn to make your minister resign for precisely the same reason.” He also attacked Sisodia for “telling lies” on the issue.On Monday, the Punjab Congress MPs led by Warring also held a protest outside Parliament against “paper leaks in Punjab”. “Six paper leaks or irregularities took place during the AAP tenure. He (CM Mann) must apologise to five lakh students and job aspirants… The minister concerned (Bains) has to resign. We won’t let this go,” Warring said.The BJP has also gone after the Mann government on the issue, with state party chief Kewal Singh Dhillon saying, “AAP is exposing its own dishonesty by shielding ministers in paper leak and cheating scandals. Union minister Pradhan resigned on moral grounds but Punjab ministers are clinging to their chairs. Health and education ministers must resign over the Faridkot pharmacy exam scandal.”Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal stated on X: “4.5 years, 6 exam scams and 5 lakh youth left in lurch in Punjab. AAP Punjab, the buck stops at you…”Stand of Bains, AAPBains has pointed out that the 2026 pharmacy exam did not come under the ambit of his office, but that of health minister Balbir Singh’s ministry.“Firstly, it was not a paper leak, it was cheating. Those who cheated were held on the spot. In fact, Punjab should be rewarded for such swift action. Also, the matter is not of my department, but since the Cabinet has an overall responsibility, I cannot run away,” he said.you may like“I was the only state education minister who went to Jantar Mantar and supported students on the ground. If my resignation helps the education system, I am for it any time… But none can defame Punjab by claiming false paper leaks. It is no more Udta Punjab, it is Padhta Punjab,” Bains said in a video statement posted on Instagram.Defending Bains, CM Mann said in Zirakpur Sunday: “In over four years of our government, not a single paper has leaked in Punjab. Recently, when an attempt to facilitate cheating in the pharmacy exam came to our notice, we acted immediately. All those involved were arrested… NEET paper leaked in 2017, 2024 and now 2026. It is a complete failure of the BJP-led Centre.”On his part, Sisodia has blamed the Congress and the BJP for “spreading lies and rumors in Punjab” over the pharmacy exam row. “The paid trolls of both parties are spreading lies in Punjab that a paper leaked. They are terming an unsuccessful cheating attempt a paper leak. They simply don’t understand education. They should feel ashamed.”