In Khadoor Sahib, Amritpal Singh springs a surprise

Charanjit Singh Teja & Gurbaxpuri

Tribune News Service

Amritsar/Taran Tarn, June 4

Independent candidate and jailed pro-Khalistan leader Amritpal Singh won the Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency with a record margin of around two lakh votes, despite being accused of being an “agencies da Banda,” or a “man of the intelligence agencies,” by Akali Dal leader Sukhbir Badal.

Amritpal defeated his nearest rival, Congress’ Kulbir Singh Zira, by 1,97,120 votes while cabinet minister and AAP candidate Laljit Singh Bhullar stood third. The SAD candidate, Virsa Singh Valtoha, had to settle at fourth position.

The ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief, who was booked under the National Security Act in March 2023, is currently lodged in Dibrugarh jail, Assam. Amritpal’s father Tarsem Singh and mother Balwinder Kaur said, “It is the verdict of the people against the government’s high-handedness. Now they should release Amritpal as people have busted the narrative that he is a threat to nation.”

Out of 10, 43,348 votes polled, Amritpal got 4,04,430 votes. While Zira secured 2,07,310 votes, Bhullar managed to get 1,94,836 votes. Valtoha polled 86,416 votes, just 43 more from BJP candidate Manjit Singh Manna, who got 86,373 votes.

The ‘Waris Punjab De’ head managed to bag around 38 per cent vote share. The SAD, which had a vote share of 30 per cent in 2019, had to settle with 8 per cent this time. The Congress’ vote share also dropped from 43 per cent to 23 per cent.