Punjab sends 8 first-timers to Parliament, Amritpal youngest

Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, 45, son of Indira Gandhi’s assassin (late) Beant Singh, is another first-timer MP.

The new Parliament will witness eight first-timers out of the 13 Lok Sabha seat winners from Punjab with five faces aged below 50. Those who made it to the Lok Sabha for the first time are Malvinder Singh Kang from Anandpur Sahib, Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa from Faridkot, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa from Gurdaspur, Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal from Hoshiarpur, Charanjit Singh Channi from Jalandhar, Amritpal Singh from Khadoor Sahib, Amarinder Singh Raja Warring from Ludhiana and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer from Sangrur.

Independent candidate Amritpal Singh, 31, is the youngest candidate from Punjab to have won in this Lok Sabha elections. (ANI file)

Among them, pro-Khalistan propagandist Amritpal Singh, 31, detained under the National Security Act (NSA) in Dibrugarh jail of Assam, and state cabinet minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, 35, are the youngest and second youngest, respectively.

Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, 45, son of Indira Gandhi’s assassin (late) Beant Singh, is another first-timer MP. This is not the first time he contested. In 2004, he contested from the Bathinda Lok Sabha seat, then an SC reserved constituency, on a Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) ticket and got over a lakh votes. In 2007, he contested from the Bhadaur assembly segment for the SAD (Amritsar). In 2014, he contested from the Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha seat for the Bahujan Samaj Party.

Another young voice from Punjab in the Lok Sabha will be Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, 46. He had contested the previous Lok Sabha polls from the Bathida assembly segment but was defeated.

Ex-Congress MLA Dr Raj Kumar Chabbewal, 52, who had jumped to AAP just ahead of polls, had contested the previous Lok Sabha polls unsuccessfully from the Hoshiarpur reserved segment.