The victory of Amritpal Singh and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa in the Lok Sabha elections seems to have motivated other Khalistani activists also to contest elections. After two aides of Amritpal Singh lodged in Dibrugarh Jail in Assam announced that they will be contesting the upcoming assembly by-elections in Punjab, a third aide also from the same jail has made a similar announcement.
The wife of Amritpal Singh’s aide Daljit Singh Kalsi today announced that her son will be contesting the by-poll from Dera Baba Nanak assembly constituency. Neeru Kalsi said that she met her husband Daljit Singh Kalsi in the jail in Dibrugarh, and he decided to contest the assembly elections. In a video message, she appealed to the people to support her husband.
She said, “I yesterday met Kalsi at the Dibrugarh Jail he is fine and I wanted to give his message to all of you that he has decided to fight the assembly by-polls from Dera Baba Nanak as it is his maternal parents village. We want your cooperation.’’ She said that she will soon hold a press conference to announce the details.
The Dera Baba Nanak assembly seal became vacant after Congress MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa became an MP by winning from the Gurdaspur parliamentary constituency.
This announcement came just hours after it was reported that Bhagwant Singh ‘Pradhan Mantri’ Bajeke and Kulwant Singh Raoke, Amritpal Singh’s associate currently in Dibrugarh jail, will be contesting the by-elections from Punjab. Bhagwant Singh Bajeke will be contesting from Gidderbaha while Kulwant Singh Raoke will contest from the Barnala constituency.
Kulwant Singh’s cousin Maha Singh said today that he talked to Kulwant who expressed a desire to contest Assembly Elections by-polls. A few days ago, a boy named Akashdeep Singh claiming to be the son of Bhagwant Singh Bajeke released a video on social media that Bajeke will contest Assembly by-Elections from Gidderbaha.
By-elections for five assembly constituencies will be held as the MLAs of those seats have won Lok Sabha elections. Barnala’s AAP MPA Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer won from Sangrur Lok Sabha seat, and Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja Warring who was MLA from Gidderbaha became MP from Ludhiana. As mentioned above, Dera Baba Nanak MLA Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa is now MP from Gurdaspur.
Chabbewal assembly seat is vacant after Raj Kumar Chabbewal became MP from Hoshiarpur, and the Jalandhar West assembly seat fell vacant after its MLA Sheetal Angural resigned after switching from AAP to BJP. It is to be seen if more aides of Amritpal announce contesting polls from these two seats.
As the Punjab Assembly Speaker has announced these seats vacant, the Election Commission has to schedule by-polls within the next six months.
Just like Amritpal Singh and Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, all three will contest the by-elections as independents. Notably, recently the Punjab govt extended the NSA applied on them for one more year, which mean they will remain in jail for another year, unless they are able to secure bail.