In view of his support base in Malwa and Majha of Punjab, Khadoor Sahib MP and Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) chief Amritpal Singh is said to be looking to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections from one seat each in the two regions.Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) insiders said Amritpal, who is currently lodged in a jail in Assam’s Dibrugarh in connection with the Ajnala police station attack case, is set to contest from Khadoor Sahib in Majha. This seat falls in his Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency.AdvertisementAt the same time, the party is weighing several options in Malwa, including a direct contest against Chief Minister and AAP leader Bhagwant Mann in his Dhuri seat.Read | The shadow of jailed Amritpal Singh: Punjab has seen this movie beforeThe party’s Hindu face Gangveer Rathour said, “Our party has already named him (Amritpal) as its chief ministerial candidate, and unlike other regional leaders, he has massive support in both Majha and Malwa.”Rathour also said, “Give me the name of one leader from Malwa who can contest from Majha, or vice-versa. Only Amritpal has the potential to contest from both regions.”AdvertisementAmritpal’s proposed move, if it materialises, would be unusual in Punjab politics, where leaders have traditionally remained identified with, and contested elections, primarily from their home regions.Majha has long lacked a major claimant to the CM’s post. Former CM Pratap Singh Kairon, who served in the 1950s and 1960s, had been the last political heavyweight from the region to occupy the post. Since then, every Punjab CM has hailed from Malwa, which with 69 seats also accounts for a majority of the state’s 117 Assembly seats. Majha encompasses 25 seats while the remaining 23 fall in the Doaba region.Read | Why Amritpal Singh’s party has fielded the son of Indira Gandhi’s assassinAmritpal is being projected by his party as “the first Majha-born leader in decades with a claim to the CM’s chair, who could appeal to voters in Malwa as well”.Majha had earlier seen a potential CM contender in Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) leader and ex-minister Bikram Singh Majithia. However, Majithia remained largely within the political shadow of the Badal family. His sister, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, is the Bathinda MP, but her political base has been built independently of the Majha turf.Amritpal, unlike Majithia, does not face the same political constraints of operating within the Badal family’s framework and is seeking to position himself as a leader with a state-wide appeal.Other names from Majha that have been discussed as possible CM contenders include Gurdaspur Congress MP Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa and Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa. Neither, however, has been formally declared the Congress’s CM face, with such an announcement by the party being considered unlikely. Some Congress leaders have also pointed to their “limited appeal” in Malwa.While CM Mann remains the AAP’s principal leader in Punjab, SAD chief Sukhbir Badal is the party’s CM face in the state Assembly elections slated for February 2027.Amritpal’s optionsRashpal Singh Sosan, the Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) candidate from Kotkapura seat in Malwa, said the drug addiction issue has helped Amritpal “transcend the traditional regional divide”.“For long, parties have created a perception of a divide between Majha and Malwa. But the drug issue has demolished such perceptions. Mothers in both Malwa and Majha are worried about their sons falling into the trap of drug addiction, and only Amritpal gives them the confidence that their sons can be saved,” he claimed.Amid growing speculation, Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) spokesperson Jaskarn Kahan Singh Wala, who held a party meeting in Talwandi Sabo Tuesday, said no final decision had been taken on Amritpal’s second seat. “The party is still weighing its options. One is to pit Amritpal directly against Mann. A second option is to contest against Sukhbir Singh Badal. A third option is to contest from Talwandi Sabo, a rural seat in Bathinda district. All options are open,” he said.Within the Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De), one argument for pitting Amritpal against Mann is that few leaders in Punjab could match the CM’s oratorical ability. A direct contest, party leaders believe, could help establish Amritpal as a significant CM contender while also forcing Mann to devote greater attention to his own constituency.Akali Dal (Waris Punjab De) insiders also say that its proposal to field Amritpal against Sukhbir is linked to the party’s bid to project itself as an alternative to the SAD.Talwandi Sabo, meanwhile, is being considered for its strategic location. A campaign by Amritpal there could resonate across adjoining rural constituencies in Bathinda and Mansa, while also providing a base from which the party could support its candidates in neighbouring seats.For Amritpal and his party, the choice of a second constituency could therefore be as much about building a state-wide political narrative as winning an individual Assembly seat.