38% candidates in Punjab facing criminal cases

The SAD has fielded a maximum of eight candidates, who are facing police complaints, followed by six such candidates by Punjab’s ruling party AAP. The Congress has picked four candidates having criminal cases, whereas two of the BJP nominees are facing probes by the state police and central agencies.

Nearly 38% of the candidates fielded by the four mainstream political parties on all 13 Lok Sabha constituencies in Punjab have police cases against them.

The firebrand Bholath MLA and the Congress nominee from Sangrur Sukhpal Khaira has a maximum of six cases among the main four parties.

The Congress, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have fielded candidates from all seats, thus making it a keenly watched a four-cornered contest.

According to affidavits submitted by leaders of these parties before the election commission (ECI), a total of 20 contestants have police cases against them ranging from murder, Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act to money laundering and corruption.

Analysis of affidavits reveals that these 20 contestants with ‘criminal antecedents’ have a total of 37 FIRs (first information reports) lodged against them at different parts of the state.

SAD has fielded a maximum of eight candidates, who are facing police complaints, followed by six such candidates by the Punjab’s ruling party AAP.

Congress has picked four candidates having criminal cases, whereas two of the BJP nominees are facing probes by the state police and central agencies.

Of the 20 individuals, 11 contenders were booked by the Punjab and Chandigarh police for blocking roads during protests or flouting Covid-19 norms or other prohibitory orders imposed by the authorities. All these cases are at various stages of investigation or trial.

The firebrand Bholath MLA and the Congress nominee from Sangrur Sukhpal Khaira has a maximum of six cases among the main four parties.

As per Khaira’s papers, he is facing a probe under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) related to his alleged involvement in a drug and weapons haul case of 2015, sharing fake content on social media platform X and a case in a land registration case.

Political analyst Prof Jagrup Sekhon said it is a matter of concern that the presence of candidates having criminal cases in the electoral fray is not a political issue.

“Ratio of election candidates with pending criminal proceedings may be lower in Punjab than the national average or fewer than other states, but the political parties hardly give any attention before fielding these leaders who will eventually become lawmakers,” Sekhon said.

The election documents state that the AAP, which is in power in Punjab, has fielded five candidates with police cases pending against them, while Dr Balbir Singh, who is contesting from Patiala, was convicted of a crime and his sentence of three years rigorous imprisonment was stayed by the Rupnagar court in June 2022.

Balbir, who represents the Patiala (rural) assembly seat and holds the portfolio of the health ministry, is the only convicted candidate in the electoral fray. He was booked under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (causing hurt voluntarily to another with dangerous weapons), 325 (punishment for voluntarily causing grievous hurt) and 506 (criminal intimidation) following a complaint by his estranged close relatives.

The AAP’s Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal, who is representing the Ajnala assembly seat and is the party’s pick from the Amritsar, has a murder case registered against him. According to Dhaliwal’s affidavit, the Punjab and Haryana high court stayed his arrest in the case in April 2022.

Another AAP candidate Gurmeet Singh Khudian, contesting from the high-stakes seat of Bathinda, was booked in a clash during the election in January 2003 on his hometurf Lambi in Muktsar.

Khudian, who is also a state agriculture minister, is facing a case under the Arms Act and Section 336 (endangering the life or personal safety of others) of the IPC. As per his election papers, no challan has been put up by the police, and the court has yet to decide the crime.

Congress candidate from Bathinda Jeetmohinder Sidhu is an accused in an attempt to murder case at Talwandi Sabo and another case of criminal intimidation lodged in Haryana’s Kurukshetra.

A political turncoat and the BJP nominee from Sangrur seat, Arvind Khanna is the only contestant facing two probes by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in a case of alleged corruption and money laundering.

Khanna is among the accused in the Embraer corruption case in which kickbacks of USD 5.76 million were allegedly paid to swing a three-aircraft deal with the DRDO in favour of the Brazilian firm in 2008. As per the election documents, charges have not been framed against Khanna in both cases.

BJP’s Ravneet Singh Bittu from Ludhiana has two cases for forcibly locking public offices, including a carcass utilization plant and the municipal corporation office. In another case, a two-time MP is accused of ransacking the agriculture office in Bathinda.

The electoral greenhorn and Akali candidate from Ferozepur, Nardev Singh Bobby Mann, is an accused in a case of criminal breach of trust that was registered in Muktsar in 2015. His case is pending in the court of Muktsar’s chief judicial magistrate, according to Mann’s election papers.

State of other parties

Backed by the SAD (Amritsar), the Independent from Khadoor Sahib, radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh is facing 13 criminal including the National Security Act, attempt to murder and abduction and is presently lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam. He is the only candidate contesting from the jail.

Other SAD (Amritsar) leaders accused of crimes include gangster-turned-politician Lakhwinder Singh alias Lakha Sidhana from Bathinda. He is an accused in 13 FIRs, including recovery of mobile in jail, the Punjab Protection of Medicare Service Persons and Medicare Services Institutions (Prevention of Violence and Damage to Property) and three cases during farmer agitation in Delhi. Sidhana was sentenced to one year in jail in July 2011 under the Arms Act.

Another party candidate from Ludhiana, Amritpal Singh is named in a case under 153 A of the IPC (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riot) in Sonepat, while its Ferozepur candidate Gurcharan Singh Bhullar is accused of an attempt to murder and other charges.