 "Amritpal Singh")
Lok Sabha elections 2024: Separatist Amritpal Singh, who is incarcerated in an Assam prison under the National Security Act (NSA) since April last year, will contest the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from Khadoor Sahib in Punjab as an independent, his mother Balwinder Kaur said on Friday.
Amritpal, who is the chief of the ‘Waris Punjab De’ outfit, was arrested on April 23 last year, and the stringent NSA was invoked against him. He, along with 9 of his associates, is currently detained at the Dibrugarh jail.
Earlier on Wednesday, Amritpal’s legal counsel Rajdev Singh Khalsa had also stated his intention to contest the elections.
Amritpal’s mother Balwinder Kaur, who is staging an indefinite protest in Amritsar demanding the transfer of Amritpal and the other 9 NSA detainees to Punjab, said that her son had decided to contest Lok Sabha elections to fight the issues facing the Sikh community.
“The decision to contest elections has been taken on the demand of sangat and panchayats of the constituency. The government hasn’t stopped from committing atrocities against the Sikhs and the aim of contesting the polls is to take the issues of the Sikhs to a bigger platform, get the Bandi Singhs [Sikh prisoners] released from the jails, counter the tyrannies of the government against the community and intensify the drive of dharam parchar [religious propagation],” she said.
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Balwinder Kaur added that while Amritpal was not in favour of contesting the polls initially, he felt that under the changed circumstances, with people coming out in his support, it was the need of the hour. “This decision has been made keeping in mind the changed circumstances,” she said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has fielded minister Laljit Singh Bhullar, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has put forward Manjeet Singh Manna for the Khadoor Sahib seat. The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and Congress are yet to announce their candidates.
Amritpal’s father, Tarsem Singh, and uncle Sukhchain Singh met him at the Dibrugarh jail in Assam on Thursday. However, they alleged they couldn't discuss his potential candidacy for the elections due to the strict supervision of the authorities.
Speaking to reporters, the duo said they would take up the ‘non-cooperative attitude’ of the jail authorities with the Dibrugarh district commissioner. They also said that they would visit Amritpal again next week for a comprehensive discussion.
Amritpal was arrested in Moga’s Rode village on April 23 last year following a more than one-month-long manhunt and the NSA was invoked against him. The Khalistani sympathiser had escaped the police net in Jalandhar district in March last year, switching vehicles and changing appearances.
The Punjab police had launched the crackdown after the February 23 Ajnala incident last year in which Amritpal Singh and his supporters, some of them brandishing swords and guns, broke through barricades and barged into the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city, and clashed with police for the release of Lovepreet Singh Toofan, one of his aides.
He and his associates had been booked under several criminal cases, including charges related to inciting discord among social classes, attempted murder, assault on police personnel, and obstructing lawful duties of public servants.
