Fighting Polls From Jail, Radical Preacher Amritpal Singh Leads Punjab Seat

Radical preacher Amritpal Singh, who is contesting the Lok Sabha polls in Punjab's Khadoor Sahib from an Assam jail, is leading the fight in early trends. According to Election Commission data at 10.30 am, Candidate Amritpal Singh, an Independent candidate, is leading by over 145,000 votes against Congress's Kulbir Singh Zira.

The chief of Waris Punjab de, Amritpal Singh is in prison at Assam's Dibrugarh after he was charged under the National Security Act last year. The radical preacher had made headlines after a mob attacked a police station in February last year over the arrest of one of his supporters. Amritpal Singh was arrested after a massive crackdown, charged under NSA and moved to Dibrugarh jail.

In the 2019 election, Congress's Jasbir Singh Gill had won the Khadoor Sahib seat. Besides Amritpal Singh and Kulbir Singh Zira, Akali Dal's Virsa Singh Valtoha and AAP's Laljit Singh Bhullar are in the contest. While AAP is in the third spot now, the Congress is fourth.

Earlier, Amritpal Singh's Tarsem Singh father had said he was reluctant to fight the polls, but changed his mind after the 'sangat' -- meaning community -- insisted.

Significantly, Khadoor Sahib is known as a 'Panthic' seat. Akali Dal, the other Panthic party in the contest, has said the radical preacher is contesting the polls to "free himself".

"How can a person who wears a 'chola' and partakes 'amrit' one year back represent the 'panth' and not a 103-year-old party which has a consistent track record of safeguarding 'panthic' values," said SAD chief Sukhbir Singh Badal in the run-up to the polls.