The Punjab government has submitted before the Punjab & Haryana High Court that the state facilitated Amritpal Singh, currently jailed under the National Security Act (NSA) in Assam, to file his nomination for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The submission comes after the controversial Khalistani preacher approached the High Court seeking temporary release to file his nomination to contest the Lok Sabha polls. Singh is contesting Lok Sabha polls from the Sri Khadoor Sahib parliamentary constituency in Punjab as an Independent candidate.
The plea said though the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer wrote to Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer Tarn Taran to take necessary action to facilitate Singh to contest elections, the state has not done anything.
However, DAG Punjab Arjun Sheoran informed the HC that two sets of nomination forms and other paperwork were filled in and signed by Singh on May 9. "The detenue was allowed to meet his proposer and advocate at Dibrugarh Central Jail on 09.05.2024," the submission read.
"The Superintendent of Central Jail Dibrugarh will administer the oath to the detenue as per the provisions of law including Handbook for Candidate, 2023 and issue a Certificate for Receipt of Oath and send the original form of Oath to Returning Officer, 03- Khadoor Sahab, (Punjab). The oath will be administered as and when a request is made by the detenue after his nomination form is submitted before the Returning Officer," Sheoran added.
Following this, Justice Vinod S. Bhardwaj said that the petition would be "infructuous" considering that the prayers made in the petition had already been complied with, reported Live Law.
