Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat: Jailed Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh leading
Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), is fighting from Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat
Jailed Khalistani separatist Amritpal Singh is leading by more than 21,000 votes from the Punjab's Khadoor Sahib seat in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, the Election Commission of India website showed. The counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections is underway.
Radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh, who is lodged in Assam's Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA), is fighting from Khadoor Sahib. Amritpal Singh is leading with 45,180 votes.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) had accepted nomination papers of the Waris Punjab De (WPD) chief, ending all apprehensions of his supporters that his papers may get rejected. The Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), which had pledged support to the Waris Punjab De chief, also fielded its candidate “as a back-up in case Amritpal’s candidature gets rejected".
Amritpal Singh was arrested in 2023 after he and hundreds of his supporters stormed a police station with swords and firearms, demanding the release of one of his aides.
A win for him in an election to parliament could give Amritpal Singh some legitimacy and spark concerns of a revival of a militancy that killed tens of thousands of people in the 1970s and 1980s.
However, Amritpal Sikh separatism has made global headlines in the last year as Canada and the United States have accused India of being involved in assassination plots against Sikhs in those countries, charges New Delhi has denied.
Singh said in a 2023 interview that he was seeking a separate homeland for Sikhs and the people of Punjab, where the religion was founded more than 500 years ago.
News agency Reuters reported that Amritpal Singh's campaign was focused on fighting Punjab's drug problem, freeing former Sikh militants from prison and protecting the Sikh identity in India.
The Congress was leading in six Lok Sabha seats, while the AAP in four constituencies in Punjab, according to initial trends.
The Congress was leading from Amritsar, Jalandhar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur and Patiala seats and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was leading from Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib, Sangrur and Bathinda seats, the trends showed.
(With inputs from agencies)