Jailed radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh will fight the Lok Sabha elections 2024 from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib seat, his counsel claimed on Wednesday. Currently, he is lodged in Assam jail under the National Security Act.
His father, Tarsem Singh refused to comment on the matter yesterday. He said he will only about Amritpal’s Lok Sabha poll candidature only after meeting his son on Thursday, while asserting that he earlier had shown no interest in joining politics.
However, his legal counsel Rajdev Singh Khalsa claimed that he met Amritpal in Dibrugarh jail on Wednesday and requested him to contest the general elections taking place in seven phases.
“I met bhai sahab (Amritpal Singh) in Dibrugarh central jail today and during the meeting, I requested bhai sahab that in the interests of ‘Khalsa Panth’, he should fight elections this time from Khadoor Sahib to become a member of parliament. Bhai sahab accepted my request in the Panthic interests… He will fight as an Independent candidate,” Khalsa claimed as quoted by PTI.
All you need to know about Amritpal Singh
1) The chief of ‘Waris Punjab De’, a pro-Khalistani outfit, Amritpal Singh, was arrested in last April and the stringent NSA was invoked against him. His nine associates are also lodged in Dibrugarh jail.
2) After more than a month-long manhunt, Amritpal Singh styled himself after slain Khalistani terrorist Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale. He was was apprehended in Moga’s Rode village on April 23, 2017.
3) Last March, the Khalistan sympathiser managed to slip through the police net in the Jalandhar district by changing his vehicle and appearance.
4) When Amritpal Singh and his supporters, some of whom were armed with swords and guns, broke through barricades and stormed the police station on the outskirts of Amritsar city last February 23, fighting with police to free his aide Lovepreet Singh Toofan, the Punjab Police began their crackdown.
5) He and his colleagues were charged with multiple criminal instances for attempting to sow discord among social classes, attacking police officers, and obstructing public officials’ ability to lawfully do their duties.
(With PTI inputs)
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Published: 25 Apr 2024, 09:17 AM IST