Punjab: Amritpal, poll panel get HC notice on his LS election

The Punjab and Haryana high court (HC) on Friday issued notice to the Election Commission of India (ECI) and radical Sikh leader and Khadoor Sahib MP Amritpal Singh on a plea challenging his Lok Sabha (LS) election.
Acting on the plea of Vikramjit Singh, an independent candidate, the HC sought response by October 25. Detained under the National Security Act, Amritpal, along with nine others from his outfit, has been lodged in the Dibrugarh Central Jail since April last year. They were detained following a crackdown on the Waris Punjab De outfit by the Centre and Punjab on March 18, 2023.
Amritpal was detained on April 23 last year in a Moga village after almost a month-long chase since his escape on March 18 that year. In April, the Punjab government re-invoked the NSA against all of them. He was elected as an MP from the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat in the election held on June 1, the result of which was declared on June 4.
The election has been challenged on the grounds of concealment of required particulars in the affidavit filed with the nomination papers, violation of election expenditure rules, including non-disclosure of expenses on voter slips, public meetings, vehicles, social media and there are also allegations of paid news.
“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 claims.
The petition alleges his team and family visited various religious places, gurdwaras and Hindu religious events and also released the manifesto from a gurdwara. “Amritpal not only failed to maintain the sanctity of the religious places but also violated the provisions of the Representation of People Act by seeking votes in religious places and as such his election is liable to be set aside on this score alone,” the plea mentioned.