The first session of the 18th Lok Sabha starts today. The Punjab Lok Sabha winners have been allotted the time to be sworn in and take oath as MPs on Tuesday 25 June. The names of all 13 MPs including Waris Punjab De chief and Khalistan supporter Amritpal Singh, who contested and won the Khadoor Sahib constituency from jail, are included in the list. However, the Khalistani will likely neither be able to reach Parliament nor take oath during his time.
Amritpal Singh's lawyer, Advocate Rajdev Singh Khalsa, said that every newly elected MP is allocated time by the Parliament Office for oath-taking. All the MPs of Punjab have been given time on 25 June. The office also informs all the MPs about the time through a phone call which was also received on the phone number registered by Amritpal Singh. But they have been informed that Amritpal Singh is in jail due to which Amritpal Singh will not be able to go to the session for oath-taking.
Amritpal Singh has been lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam under National Security Act (NSA) since March 2023. NSA is a law that allows the government to detain individuals for up to 12 months without any formal charges. But Amritpal Singh has been in custody for more than a year now and the Punjab government has extended his detention under NSA until 2025.
In such a situation, it is likely that Amritpal will neither be able to come out of jail nor take oath on June 25.
Advocate Rajdev Singh Khalsa said that the application for Amritpal Singh's bail has already been given to the DC office and the Home Department of the Punjab government. Now whenever an order is issued in the name of Amritpal Singh, he will be brought out of Dibrugarh jail in Assam and taken to the parliament where he will be sworn in as MP.
It is important to note that the electoral victory means that despite being in jail, Amritpal now has a constitutional mandate as an MP. However, he must first take oath to become a constitutional MP. No separate decision has been taken in the Constitution regarding the oath-taking of an elected MP while in jail but there is the possibility of temporary parole.