Bhagwant Mann Alcohol Row: A Decade of Allegations, From Lok Sabha to Vidhan Sabha
Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann faces fresh drunk-in-Assembly allegations on Labour Day 2026. A look at a decade of similar controversies, what alcohol tests can actually prove, and why the politics of this row matters now.
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, May 1
Bhagwant Mann alcohol row is back. The Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s special Labour Day session on Friday descended into uproar when the Opposition accused Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann of attending the House in an inebriated state — the latest episode in a controversy that has dogged the comedian-turned-politician for over a decade, across two legislatures, and through at least one solemn public vow of abstinence.
Leader of Opposition and Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa demanded that all doors of the Assembly be closed and every MLA present undergo an alcohol meter test. “An honourable member has levelled a very serious charge and that too on the head of the state,” Bajwa said. “If it is true, then it is a black day in democracy.”
Bajwa wrote to Punjab Assembly Speaker Kultar Singh Sandhwan seeking alcometer and dope testing of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and all the legislators.
He wrote: “I write on behalf of the Congress Legislative Party (CLP) to draw your immediate attention to a matter of grave concern affecting the dignity and decorum of this august House.”
However, the Speaker rejected the demand.
Talking about the Bhagwant Mann alcohol row, Bholath MLA Sukhpal Khaira wrote on X: “Very sad and black day for the politics of Punjab that we @INCIndia had to seek an alcohol test of Cm @BhagwantMann who came drunk to the Vidhan Sabha today !…”
The Shiromani Akali Dal released videos from the Assembly on social media and called it “very shameful” that Mann allegedly came to the House after consuming alcohol on Labour Day. Congress subsequently staged a walkout. Chief Minister Mann, for his part, said the session was dedicated to Labour Day and urged all members to maintain decorum.
AAP has denied the allegations. But the row comes at a particularly fraught political moment: the special session was convened days after seven AAP Rajya Sabha MPs — six of them from Punjab — quit the party and joined the BJP. The Opposition, clearly, is not wasting the opening.
A Timeline of Allegations
Bhagwant Mann alcohol row is not new. The accusations stretch back to his first months as a Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur, and have attached themselves to some of the most consequential moments of his political career.
2014–2015: The Lok Sabha Years Begin
When did the Bhagwant Mann alcohol row first come to light? It was former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav who first put the allegation on record publicly, in 2015. Yadav said he had first noticed Mann smelling of alcohol at a meeting of all AAP Lok Sabha candidates in July 2014. “I mentioned it to Arvind Kejriwal and he nodded,” Yadav said. “Around this time, I heard rumours that Mann was going to the Lok Sabha sessions drunk. One of his fellow MPs confirmed it to me.”
In October 2015, at the bhog ceremony of the Faridkot firing victims, Mann was reportedly asked to leave the stage after a former granthi of Darbar Sahib found him in an inebriated state. Videos emerged of Mann being heckled and chased out of a gurdwara by villagers in Bargari, Faridkot.
2016: The Lok Sabha Speaker Steps In
In 2016, there was another Bhagwant Mann alcohol controversy. AAP leader Harinder Singh Khalsa wrote formally to then-Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, stating it was “torturous” to sit next to Mann who “reeks of liquor.” Three more MPs subsequently wrote to a nine-member committee set up by Mahajan on the same issue.
The crisis peaked in July 2016 when Mann live-streamed his trip to Parliament on Facebook and published the video — breaching security by filming inside Parliament. It was alleged he was drunk at the time. Speaker Mahajan asked him not to attend sittings of the House until a decision was taken on the matter.
2017: The Prime Minister Takes a Dig
In February 2017, Prime Minister Narendra Modi referenced an old Charvaka poem in Parliament, saying that instead of asking people to drink ghee, Mann would “ask them to drink something else.” The parliamentary floor reportedly erupted with laughter. Mann was furious and threatened to report the PM for breach of privilege if the remark wasn’t deleted from the record.
2019: The Vow
There is Bhagwant Mann alcohol row and there’s also his vow!! Facing sustained reputational damage, Mann addressed a rally in Barnala in January 2019 and announced he had stopped consuming alcohol, on his mother’s advice. AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal called it a “great sacrifice for the people.” The vow was widely covered. It was also widely watched to see how long it would last.
2022: Three Allegations in One Year
Mann became Chief Minister of Punjab in March 2022. By April, the allegations around Bhagwant Mann alcohol had followed him into office.
The SGPC alleged that just weeks after taking charge, Mann had entered Takht Damdama Sahib — one of the five Takhts of Sikhism — in an inebriated state on the occasion of Baisakhi, April 14, 2022. SGPC senior vice president Raghujit Singh Virk said Mann had “violated the Sikh rehat maryada.” Sukhbir Singh Badal stated it was “not the first time” and demanded a medical examination of the CM. AAP denied the allegation.
Another Bhagwant Mann row surfaced–By December 2022, SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal raised the matter in the Lok Sabha itself, saying: “The person who used to come to the Parliament in an inebriated state at 11 am is now running the state. Members who used to sit near him had complained to change their seats.”
May 1, 2026: The Vidhan Sabha
Today’s incident is the most recent chapter. Former AAP leader Swati Maliwal — now aligned with BJP after a public fallout with the party — posted on X that Mann “goes to the Gurdwara Sahib after drinking, goes to the temple after drinking, used to come to the Lok Sabha after drinking, goes to government meetings after drinking, and drank so much abroad that he was deplaned.” She demanded that Mann undergo an alcohol test and, if found guilty, be removed from the Chief Minister’s post.
What Would an Alcometer Test Actually Establish?
Bajwa’s demand for on-the-spot breathalyzer testing of all MLAs was dramatic. It was also, from a forensic standpoint, the only demand that would have meant anything.
Available information suggests that a breathalyzer — or alcometer — measures Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) through breath, and can detect the presence of alcohol typically within 12 to 24 hours of consumption. It is the standard roadside sobriety tool, fast and non-invasive. Had it been administered during the session, it would have given a definitive answer.
Blood tests, the most accurate method, can detect ethanol for six to twelve hours after the last drink, and metabolites like EtG for up to 80 hours — but they require clinical conditions and cannot be done on the floor of an assembly. Urine tests have a similar extended window for metabolites but the same logistical constraints.
The political irony is plain: Bajwa’s instinct was correct. An alcometer, applied immediately, was the one tool that could have converted allegation into evidence — or cleared Mann entirely. In the absence of a test, what remains is video footage, witness accounts, and a decade of political noise. Friday’s Vidhan Sabha session produced exactly that, and nothing more.
The latest Bhagwant Mann alcohol row: But Why Now?
Mann’s political opponents have raised this allegation at every inflection point of his career — when he was an inconvenient backbench MP, when he became Chief Minister, and now when his party is bleeding MLAs to the BJP. The consistency of the political timing does not make the allegations false. But it does mean they should be read with an understanding of who is raising them, and when.
AAP has denied every specific allegation. Mann has never agreed to a formal test. The 2019 vow of abstinence is the only moment on record when he acknowledged alcohol had been an issue — and even that was framed as a voluntary choice, not an admission.
What is beyond dispute is that this controversy has outlasted Mann’s comedian career, his Lok Sabha tenure, and now trails him into his Chief Ministership. The Opposition knows it. And on a Labour Day session meant to pay homage to workers, they used it — because in Punjab politics, some instruments never go out of use.
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