HC Receives Plea Challenging Amritpal Singh’s Election

A petition has been filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court contesting the election of  Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh. The petition was filed by independent candidate Vikramjit Singh. The High Court has yet to take cognizance of the plea.

Amritpal, along with nine other members of his organization, has been detained under the National Security Act and has been held in Dibrugarh’s central jail since April of last year. On March 18, 2023, they were apprehended as part of a crackdown by the Centre and Punjab on the group Waris Punjab De.

Amritpal was arrested under the National Security Act (NSA) on April 23, 2023, in a Moga hamlet, following a nearly month-long pursuit since his escape on March 18, 2023. In April, the Punjab government reinstated the NSA against all of them. He was elected as an MP from Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha constituency in the recently held parliamentary elections.

The plea accuses a violation of election expenditure laws, including failure to disclose costs on voter slips, public meetings, cars, social media, and sponsored press.

“The respondent NO.5 (Amritpal Singh) has engaged some professional religious preacher for his campaign, and he has used his religious identity to seek votes on the name of religion, which is also illegal and as such amounts to corrupt practices,” the plea states.

“The team and family of the respondent No.5 visited various religious places, Gurudwaras and Hindu religious Nagar Kirtan. They have released the manifesto of respondent No.5 from a gurdwara. Meetings were held in various gurdwaras for his support and slogans were raised in his favour. Thus, the respondent has not only failed to maintain her sanctity of the religious place but has also violated the provisions of the Representation of the People Act by seeking votes in the nine religious places and as such his election is liable to be set aside on this score alone,” the plea stated further.