NSA no hurdle, but contesting may not be easy for Amritpal Singh

Tribune News Service

Deepkamal Kaur

Jalandhar, May 3

The most-debated discussion on the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat is whether Amritpal Singh, who is in the Dibrugarh jail under the National Security Act since April last year and has chosen to contest as an Independent, is allowed to contest elections.

Legal experts have said there is no bar as per the ECI guidelines for an accused in the NSA case to contest. The only contradiction is that Amritpal had stated that he had no faith in the Constitution and the state has declared him country’s enemy by imposing the NSA.

Since Amritpal will have to submit an oath at the time of filing of nomination papers, his submission will be contrary to his usual stand.

Deputy Commissioner, Tarn Taran, Sandeep Kumar has said as per the guidelines of the ECI, the Jail Superintendent will administer an oath to Amritpal, and the officer will inform the Returning Officer about it.

The legal experts have said if the Punjab Police bring him on remand during the nomination days for cases lodged against him in Jalandhar and Amritsar, this could become a reason for the rejection of his nomination.

Since he will no longer be in the custody of the Jail Superintendent, who alone is authorised to administer oath to the accused, he will not be able to take oath, which is a pre-requisite for acceptance of nomination papers.

There have been several instances in the past wherein leaders like Simranjit Singh Mann got elected from then Tarn Taran Lok Sabha seat in 1998 while being in jail. Don-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, who contested the Mau Assembly seat, got elected from the jail thrice and even RJD chief Lalu Prasad Yadav won election from Bihar’s Madhepura LS seat. But the experts say that there have been certain amendments to the procedures since then which could come as a cropper. The biggest issue is that Amritpal needs to have a new bank account opened just a day before filing papers exclusively to handle election expenses. This is mandatory as per the ECI directions.

Since Amritpal is jailed, opening bank account in absentia might be cumbersome, the experts have said.

Parminder Vig, a lawyer and elections law expert, said, “Amritpal will have to face multiple procedural issues at every stage as the Representation of People Act was enacted in 1950 and amended in 1980. It does not allow any technical support. There is no provision for video-conferencing under it. Not just at the nomination stage, Amritpal’s team will face hurdles at every step, be it regarding the filing of nomination papers or approval of expenses”.

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