Jailed MPs can come to Parliament with permission of courts: Former LS Secretary General PDT Achary

Faridabad (Haryana) [India], June 6 (ANI): Jailed radical Sikh preacher Amritpal Singh and Engineer Abdul Rashid, who have won the Lok Sabha elections, can come to Parliament to participate in oath-taking ceremony and take part in important votes with the court’s permission, a Constitution expert said.

Rashid has been lodged in the Tihar jail since August 9, 2019 on charges of alleged terror financing, while Singh has been booked under the National Security Act and sent to the Dibrugarh jail in Assam.

“They (jailed MPs) can come to Parliament. The first thing is that they will now have to come and take the oath. With the permission of the court and concerned authorities, they can come out and take the oath. The police will bring them to Parliament, after which they will be handed over to the Parliament security. After they take the oath, they will be sent back to jail with the police,” the Constitution expert and former Secretary General of the Lok Sabha, PDT Achary, told ANI.

“Whenever they want to take part in an important work or vote in Parliament, they will be brought in the same way. They are given special permission to attend Parliament sessions, after which they are taken back to jail,” he added.

Achary said that since they are in jail, they are not able to serve people as effectively as they would have otherwise, adding that people choose them as their representatives knowing this.

According to the Election Commission’s announcement on Tuesday, Amritpal Singh, a Sikh preacher, has secured victory in the Khadoor Sahib constituency, while Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as “Engineer Rashid,” has won the Baramulla seat.

Amritpal Singh was arrested by Punjab police in April last year, weeks after he evaded police and the stringent National Security Act was invoked against him.

He won the Khadoor Sahib Lok Sabha seat with a massive margin of 1,97,120 votes, defeating his nearest rival, Kulbir Singh Zira of Congress.

Engineer Rashid ran as an independent candidate from the Baramulla seat and defeated Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) vice-president Omar Abdullah. He secured victory with a margin of 2,04,142 votes and received 4,72,481 votes.