With the counting of votes for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections underway, one important tidbit that has emerged from the recent trend is the rise of the Khalistani movement in Punjab in the form of Khalistani separatists taking the lead in their respective constituencies. Jailed Amritpal Singh from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib seat while Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa from Faridkot is leading the polls.
Jailed Khalistani separatist and Waris Punjab De Chief Amritpal Singh is leading with over 118237 votes from Punjab’s Khadoor Sahib seat in the Lok Sabha elections 2024, according to the latest trends shown by the Election Commission of India. Meanwhile, Congress candidate Kulbir Singh Zira is in the second spot with 153908 votes.
The Khalistani separatist was arrested by Punjab police in April last year, weeks after evading police for over a month and the stringent National Security Act was invoked against him.
In February last year, Amritpal Singh made the headlines when crowds attacked a police station after the arrest of one of his followers. Amritpal Singh was arrested following a huge crackdown, prosecuted under the NSA, and shifted to Dibrugarh jail.
In the 2019 general election, Congress candidate Jasbir Singh Gill won the Khadoor Sahib seat. Amritpal Singh’s father, Tarsem Singh, had earlier said that he was reluctant to contest the elections, however, he changed his mind after the Sangat (community) insisted.
Notably, Khadoor Sahib is deemed to be a ‘Panthic’ seat. The Akali Dal, the other Panthic party in the race, has stated that the Khalistani separatist is contesting the polls to “free himself”.
In Faridkot, Sarabjeet Singh Khalsa, the 45-year-old son of Beant Singh, one of the two assassins of former PM Indira Gandhi, is leading with 56796 votes, ahead of Aam Aadmi Party’s Karamjit Singh Anmol who has polled 1,64,118 votes so far. Sarabjit had previously contested on the ticket of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) or SAD(A) in the 2004 general and 2007 state polls, and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) in the 2014 parliamentary elections but had lost those elections.