Sangrur LS bypoll: Rajoana’s sister enters fray as Akali Dal candidate

Kamaldeep Kaur met jailed brother Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is on the death row for assassinating former chief minister Beant Singh, before agreeing to contest.

Death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur, 46, will contest the Sangrur Lok Sabha byelection as the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) candidate.

Senior Shiromani Akali Dal leaders at a meeting with death row convict Balwant Singh Rajoana’s sister Kamaldeep Kaur in Ludhiana on Saturday. (HT Photo)

A SAD delegation, including Sikander Singh Maluka, Virsa Singh Valtoha, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, Harish Rai Dhanda and Prabhjot Singh Dhaliwal, called on Kamaldeep Kaur in Ludhiana on Saturday morning and conveyed the party’s decision to field her as the SAD contestant for the June 23 byelection.

Recently, an organisation pursuing the release of Sikh political prisoners had also urged her to contest the bypoll. After meeting her brother in the Patiala jail, Kamaldeep consented to contest the election.

“My brother has given a nod to contest and I will follow his words. I will contest as a joint Panthic candidate. I am contesting for the cause of all Sikhs who are languishing in jails because of the apathy of the Union government. My candidature is for taking up their issue at the central level,” she said after coming out of the jail premises.

Party president Sukhbir Singh Badal made the announcement on Twitter, projecting her as the common candidate of Panthic organisations and the alliance partner Bahujan Samaj Party. He said she will contest the election on the SAD’s symbol (scales) and will submit her papers on June 6, the last day to file nominations.

“Kamaldeep comes from a humble family and is active in social and religious works, which is why our party’s leadership chose her as the suitable candidate to take up Sikhs’ issues in the Parliament,” said SAD’s secretary general Balwinder Singh Bhunder.

Balwant Singh Rajoana, who is on the death row in former chief minister Beant Singh’s assassination, had appealed to electors to vote for the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the run-up to the assembly elections earlier this year. He had made the appeal while visiting a gurdwara in Ludhiana on January 31 to attend the bhog ceremony of his deceased father.

Rajoana was sentenced to death in July 2007 after being convicted for his involvement in the explosion outside the Punjab civil secretariat that had killed Beant Singh and 16 others on August 31, 1995.

Earlier on Friday, on a call given by Akal Takht acting jathedar Giani Harpreet Singh, the SAD had urged all Panthic bodies to join hands and field a common candidate. Sukhbir had also met SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann to seek support for the proposal, but he on Saturday decided to go his own way and filed his nomination.