New Delhi, June 5
Sitting in Assam's Dibrugarh central jail, Khalistani leader Amritpal Singh won Punjab's Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat by 1,97,120 votes against Congress candidate Kulbir Singh Zira. This is probably the first instance in the country where a jailed convict has won elections.
Singh, the Waris Punjab De chief, was arrested last year after a massive crackdown, charged under the National Security Act (NSA), and is currently lodged in a prison in Assam's Dibrugarh.
Amripal Singh, who fought the electoral battle from an Assam jail, secured 4,04,430 votes as opposed to Congress's Kulbir Singh Zira's 2,07,310 votes. Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)'s Laljit Singh Bhullar came in third with 1,94,836 votes.
In February 2023, the leader made headlines after a mob attacked a police station over the arrest of one of his supporters.
Amritpal Singh's campaign was concentrated on fighting Punjab's drug menace, discharging ex-Sikh militants from jail, and protecting the Sikh identity in the nation.
Earlier, the Election Commission of India had accepted the nomination papers.
Meanwhile, another candidate, Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, the son of one of the assassins of Indira Gandhi, also won the election. Khalsa secured the Faridkot seat by 70,053 votes over AAP's Karamjit Singh Anmol.
The electoral victories of jailed pro-Khalistan radical preacher Amritpal Singh from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib, and Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, the son of Beant Singh, one of the two assassins of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, have brought the focus back to the state’s troubled past and voters’ growing disenchantment with mainstream parties.
Both Singh and Khalsa had contested as independent candidates in this Lok Sabha election. While Singh defeated Congress candidate Kulbir Singh Zira with a margin of over 1,97,120 votes, Khalsa defeated Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Karamjit Singh Anmol with a margin of over 70,000 votes.
