![[FILE] Indian lawmaker from Jammu and Kashmir Engineer Rashid (C) reacts while covered with ink after an attack, during a press conference in New Delhi, India, 19 October 2015. EPA/STR](https://i0.wp.com/efe.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/rss-efefb0e90a1143ef2d52f3f350e417ddb0b82e94b56w.jpg?fit=1920%2C1311&ssl=1)
New Delhi, Jun 4 (EFE).- Two alleged separatist politicians currently imprisoned on terrorism charges, and the son of an assassin of India’s third prime minister, Indira Gandhi, have emerged Tuesday as surprising winners in the Indian elections.
One of these victors is Amritpal Pal Singh, who won a parliamentary constituency in Punjab, a northern Indian state that has endured years of a deadly separatist movement seeking an independent homeland for Sikhs – a religious minority in India but a majority in the state.
Singh, running as an independent candidate, was arrested in April last year for allegedly radicalizing Sikh youth for the independent state of Khalistan, challenging India’s sovereignty, integrity, and security.
He is the chief of Waris Punjab De, a Sikh volunteer political group based in Punjab, and was charged under the stringent National Security Act, which allows for extendable pre-trial detention of a suspect threatening national security for a minimum of 12 months.
Currently lodged in the Dibrugarh jail in the northeastern state of Assam, Singh’s election affidavit indicates he has 12 criminal cases against him.
The other victor with alleged separatist links is Engineer Rashid, a fiery politician from the troubled Kashmir Valley.
Rashid is imprisoned in Delhi’s Tihar Jail, facing charges of receiving funds for terror activities in Kashmir – a disputed region that has suffered decades of armed separatist rebellion seeking either independence or merger with Pakistan.
A vocal critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Hindu nationalist ideology, Rashid contested from the north Kashmir constituency of Baramulla, his home district.
He achieved a stunning victory and proved to be a giant slayer by defeating heavyweight and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
In Rashid’s absence, his son, Abrar Rashid, ran the electoral campaign, striking an emotional chord with his supporters.
Rashid began his political career in 2008 after resigning from his job as a construction engineer. He previously won the regional assembly election in 2014 as an independent candidate and unsuccessfully contested the parliamentary polls in 2019.
Controversially, he hosted a beef party in Kashmir at the height of the BJP’s demand for a blanket ban on cow slaughter in India in 2015.
He was arrested and charged with terror activities after Modi revoked Kashmir’s semi-autonomy in August 2019 and has since been in jail, awaiting trial.
Another surprise from the elections is Sarabjit Singh Khalsa, son of Beant Singh, one of the bodyguards who assassinated then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984.
Khalsa contested from Faridkot in Punjab as an independent candidate, securing an unassailable lead of more than 70,000 votes against his nearest rival.
India’s electoral law does not bar anyone, including imprisoned suspects, from contesting elections unless they have been convicted. A conviction, however, leads to disqualification from running in elections. EFE
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