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Rashid, Amritpal sworn-in as Lok Sabha MPs
Jailed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid and radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh were sworn in as members of Lok Sabha on Friday, amid heavy deployment of security personnel in and around the Parliament complex.
Jailed Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid and radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh were sworn in as members of Lok Sabha on Friday, amid heavy deployment of security personnel in and around the Parliament complex.
The two newly elected MPs, who were earlier granted temporary release from prison, were brought to the Parliament complex for the oath-taking ceremony in the chamber of Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla after completing formalities, people aware of the matter said.
While Rashid is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), Singh is lodged in Assam’s Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act (NSA).
“The oath taking ceremony took place inside the Speaker’s chamber. It lasted for a few minutes. The forces that were escorting them under heavy security dropped them at the gates. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and later Parliament officials escorted them to the Speaker’s chamber,” a Parliament official said, declining to be named.
Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, was arrested in a 2017 Jammu & Kashmir terror funding case. In the Lok Sabha elections, he contested as an independent from Baramulla seat in the Union territory and won by a margin of 204,142 votes, defeating National Conference leader Omar Abdullah. He was granted a two-hour parole to take oath by a Delhi court recently.
Officers in the Delhi Police said Rashid was accompanied by at least 11 armed personnel from the Delhi Armed Police from Tihar jail to Parliament. The vehicle in which he was ferried was accompanied by four more vehicles with armed personnel, the officers said.
“There were 11 police personnel, headed by a van in-charge, escorting Engineer Rashid in the van. The Delhi Armed Police followed the security protocol that is done while escorting any undertrial jail. It did not take much time,” a senior officer said, seeking anonymity.
Singh, on the other hand, was arrested under the NSA on April 23 last year following a police crackdown on his organisation, Waris Punjab De. In the general elections, he won from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib constituency by a wide majority of 197,000 votes after beating Congress contender Kulbir Singh Zira.
Singh was granted temporary release to take oath as MP and directed to return to the prison on the same day. He was, however, given four days to travel back to Assam in the event of exigencies such as rain in the national capital.
According to an official aware of the details, Singh was brought to Delhi on a special aircraft on Friday morning. An eight-member team of the Punjab Police reached Dibrugarh to take the newly elected MP to the national capital. A team of Assam Police and the district administration accompanied them to escort Singh from Dibrugarh Central Jail to the airport in the early hours amid tight security.
“A team of 10 Punjab officers escorted him from Delhi airport to Parliament. He was also ferried in a police convoy under tight security,” a second officer said.
While a lawfully imprisoned person is prohibited from voting under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act (if they are confined in a prison, whether on a sentence of imprisonment or transportation or otherwise or if they are in the lawful custody of the police), a 2013 amendment to the Act states that the person will still be considered an elector if their name is on the electoral rolls. The amendment was carried out to overcome a July 10, 2023, Supreme Court judgment, which ruled that anybody in police custody or jail will not be able to contest elections because the person ceases the right to vote as an “elector”. The amended provision, however, allows even an imprisoned person to contest elections.
