Amritpal Singh Sandhu is more than 2,700 kms away from home, in a jail in Dibrugarh, Assam. However, in this Lok Sabha elections, he is a candidate fighting independently from Punjab.
On June 1, people across 57 parliamentary constituencies across eight states and Union Territories will choose among 904 candidates in the seventh and final phase of the general elections. The jailed pro-Khalistan leader is one among those candidates. The Representation of People's Act, 1950 allows undertrials to stand for elections. Only convicts are barred.
Last year, the Punjab police invoked the National Security Act (NSA) and arrested him in April 2023 following a more than month-long manhunt across Punjab. Amritpal stands accused of waging war against the country, attempted murder, assault of police officials, kidnapping, arms act, and rash driving.
However, his physical absence has not dented his probability at winning.
BOOM travelled to Punjab to understand how his campaigns are being organised without his presence.
Across the Khadoor Sahib constituency, posters on village walls and homes bearing his picture along with a mike – the election symbol allotted to him, proves the electorate’s allegiance to him. Amritpal’s larger-than-life persona makes up for his absence.
As the final phase of the mammoth Lok Sabha Elections 2024 looms ahead, his family braves the blistering heat to canvas towns and villages in a last attempt to secure votes for the incarcerated leader.
Their message is simple. Vote for Amritpal Singh who will be the “Voice of Punjab”, lead the “panth” (path or way) and roots for “Khalsa” (pure [way of life]). The family is also focusing on Singh’s work on de-addiction centres in the constituency - key in his 10-point agenda, and his fight against anti-social elements.
Waris Punab de Chief and now independent candidate
Amritpal Singh Sandhu returned home after 10 years in Dubai and since then his rise has been meteoric. Within months of his return, the 31-year-old, who worked as a dispatcher in his family’s transport agency, was baptised a Sikh and succeeded actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu as head of the Waris Punjab De, a political “pressure group” that advocated “on issues concerning Punjab”.
The charges levelled against Amritpal are grave. He is facing 12 FIRs but that has not deterred his followers. ‘Bhai’ Amritpal is still popular.
BOOM spoke to his family, his supporters’ or ‘sevakdars’ and campaign manager who is also leading the push on social media.
Amritpal’s one-storey home in Jallupur Khera, 40 kms from Amritsar, bustles with activity. Father Tarsem and uncle Sukhchain are leaders of the campaign. The duo, usually huddled in a room with their supporters and the core team, are the decision-makers of the campaign.
Amritpal’s mother Balwinder Kaur – is the face of the campaign. Kaur leads the caravan to different pitstops where she is invited to speak. On May 23, the first stop for the day was Tangra – 30 mins or 17 kms away, and at some point in the day, the procession was scheduled to go as far as Jandiala, almost 80 kms away.
“We don’t have a fixed plan. We go where we are invited to speak,” campaign manager Charandeep Singh told BOOM. “We get daily requests, and we plan accordingly,” he added.
Sukhchain’s house, a stone’s throw away, is filled with supporters who will join the procession. Villagers, neighbours, family friends, and relatives have descended from as far as Bathinda (180 kms away) and are fuelling up on roti and mixed dal from the langar that has been laid out. “The villagers are supporting him. Since his return, Bhai Amritpal has tirelessly worked in setting up de-addiction centres in the war against drugs. So many of the youth have benefitted and quit the ‘chitta’ (heroin),” one supporter said.
Star campaigner Balwinder Kaur’s caravan leaves with at least three cars in tow. She is joined by a few supporters and a team that is documenting the journey for visuals to upload on social media.
En route Tangra, supporters atop tractors, busses, and open jeeps join the motorcade. At Tangra, Kaur is met by a village head and the locals who are there to hear her speak – de-addiction centres and the war on drugs is a top concern.
Amritpal’s supporters, who have come out in droves to speak on the jailed leader’s behalf, speak of the Sikhs’ sacrifices during India’s independence struggle, Punjab’s partition in 1947, the Green Revolution, militancy in the state during the 1980s, the aftermath of former prime minister Indira Gandi’s assassination and the subsequent communal riots in 1984.
Social media campaign curtailed by community guidelines, shadow ban of pages
The social media campaign is led by Gurpreet Singh, who can be seen directing his team of four from a non-descript kothi in Rayya, a village almost six kms from Jallupur Khera. Armed with two phones that ring constantly, and a laptop, Singh is battling frequent power outages, social media community guidelines and the constant shadow ban of viral pages.
Gurpreet Singh said the team is operating only one official account on Instagram - ‘We Support Bhai Amritpal Singh’. The rest of the campaign and social media chatter is driven by Amritpal’s supporters who are using their personal accounts to influence the electorate. Youth can be seen making reels while on the campaign trail while sitting atop tractors or from their cars.
It’s not surprising that Amritpal’s candidacy is being popularised through social media. The first time Amritpal Singh Sandhu started voicing his opinions on the creation of Khalistan was on Clubhouse, back in mid-2021 when the audio-based social network platform had become hugely popular in India, BOOM had reported earlier.
“The talk of Khalistan is very common in Punjab, it is considered taboo outside Punjab. The national media cries a lot over this. Elections are fought in Punjab in the name of Khalistan, rallies are taken out. So this was not a new thing. But when I talked about these things on stage and gave some interviews, it came to the attention of the national media,” Amritpal had told Decode in an interview last year before his arrest.
However, social media, which was once Amritpal’s mainstay to spread his message, is no longer the only outlet the campaign team can rely on. The online reach is often a reflection of the offline drive for campaigning. And the talks of Khalistan finds almost no mention in the campaigns.
“The minute a page goes viral or gets a decent following, it gets banned, or shadow banned,” one supporter said adding that to get around this, the supporters keep making new accounts.
‘We Support Bhai Amritpal Singh’, the official Facebook and Instagram page boasts a modest 7,200 and 16,600 followers respectively. According to details available on Facebook, the page was created by a Surinder Sodhi in October 2019, but was renamed on May 18, 2024. The Facebook page supporting Amritpal Singh has published around 88 political ads and spent around Rs 22,000 promoting the same. The posts are mostly photos and sound bytes from the roadshow when the family is out campaigning. The page also has posters about Amritpal’s manifesto and are now running posts on EVMs, and the symbol - the Mike.
The pages link across social media on Instagram (10,000 followers) and Telegram (1,800 subscribers) as well. However, Gurpreet said their focus is on Instagram. “The youth and those in their 40s and 50s are big-time Instagram users posting photos, videos from the campaign trail,” Gurpreet said. “The campaign focuses on positive bytes of 15 to 16-year olds who managed to quit heroin at Amritpal’s de-addiction centres. Khadoor Sahib is one of the four religious constituencies of Punjab, and the electorate here needs an emotional pitch,” he added.
A search for Amritpal Singh or Bhai Amritpal Singh will throw up several fan accounts. @teamAmritpal2024 on Instagram was created in April 2024, has posted 588 posts till now, and has 18,300 followers. According to Instagram, 51% of teamamritpal2024 followers also follow now deceased singer @sidhu_mossewala.
According to Facebook, the page ‘Sada MP Bhai Amritpal Singh 2024’ was created in April and has sponsored around 60 ads costing about Rs. 7,900.
A Facebook page “Staunch Supporter (ਪੱਕੇ ਸਪੋਟਰ)” has 12,000 followers and features content supporting Amritpal Singh.
An Instagram handle @officialbhaiamritpalsingh seems to have 128K Followers with 60 Posts but appears to be withheld in India following a legal demand. BOOM could not verify if it was operated by Amritapal Singh or his representative,
On May 27, Canadian photographer/filmmaker Gurkeerat Singh, whose Twitter and other social media account is withheld in India, released a 17:45-minute-long documentary on Amritpal Singh titled - ‘Anandpur Vaapsi’ which raked up 564k views on YouTube till now. According to an interview, Gurkeerat spent two months with Amritpal prior to the latter’s arrest.
Another obscure page Elect Punjab, has sponsored an appeal video featuring Amritpal Singh’s mother Balwinder Kaur redirects one to a website that appears to be gathering voter data and a placeholder website.
Because of the grave charges against Amritpal, Gurpreet said he is also careful of the material he posts online. “We know our social media accounts are being closely monitored by probe agencies hence we strictly follow the Meta community guidelines and meet the content requirements,” he added.
“We don’t go live. Firstly because, till now our campaign was very ad hoc and the family went where they were invited, and secondly, more importantly, because we can’t control the speeches that may be made, Gurpreet said.
Gurpreet added that the campaign strategy has focused on Amritpal’s mother – who is the star campaigner, and so far the social media response has been encouraging. Daily engagement rate is averaging 4000-5000 likes with a few posts going as high as 12,000-30,000 likes, he added.
Now in the run-up to D-Day, we want our final message to focus on brand recall and educate the public about the EVM and the symbol,” Gurpreet said.
Campaigns of jailed candidates run parallel
Like Amritpal, Abdul Rashid Sheik, more popularly known as Engineer Rashid, is a jailed leader who contested as an independent from Baramulla, North Kashmir. Rashid’s constituency went to the polls on May 20 during phase 5 of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024.
Rashid, ex-MLA from Langate faces UAPA charges for terror funding Mohd Syed Hafiz and Lashkar-e-Toiba, the banned terror outfit. The NIA arrested him in 2019 and he has been at Delhi's Tihar Jail ever since.
In a way, Amritpal Singh and Engineer Rashid’s story runs parallel. Both jailed, both facing terror charges, both contesting as independents and facing stalwarts or legacy political parties.
While Amritpal Singh faces candidates from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, BJP and Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Rashid had a face-off against ex- Jammu and Kashmir CM Omar Abdullah and Jammu & Kashmir People Conference leader Sajad Gani Lone.
Some experts go as far as to suggest that Rashid may well be the dark horse in the three-way fight in North Kashmir.
In both instances, their families stepped up to campaign on their behalf. Since Rashid and Amritpal are contesting as independents, the families ran their own campaign.
There’s another parallel the duo share – both have got immense on-the-ground organic support from the youth and members of the community. And both found support from the youth and benefitted from their obsession with social media – Instagram reels/Facebook Live.
The son speaks for the father
Abrar Rashid, Engineer Rashid’s son in his 20s, took a break from his studies to lead the campaign for his father.
“We used to start at 9 am and try to visit different towns/villages. En route, people from the nearby villages would join the caravan in their own cars, or on load carriers and motorbikes,” Abrar told BOOM before the constituency went to the polls on May 20.
Pictures uploaded on the official Facebook page, and videos from the Facebook live suggest an overwhelming support and turnout in hundreds, if not thousands.
The locals from the community helped us a lot, Abrar said adding that the youth would make the posters. “All the expenses incurred during our campaign was personal,” Abrar said.
When asked if Engineer Rashid’s voice was missing from the campaign, Abrar replied in the negative.
“Engineer Rashid’s voice is not missing. The people know him, his work and the ideals he represents. As an MLA from Langate, Rashid represented his people twice,” Abrar said. “We focused our campaign on the youth, but the elders joined in. 40-50-year-olds who earlier boycotted the elections, voted for the first time,” he added.
Abrar’s words proved prophetic. Jammu and Kashmir saw the highest voter turnout in 35 years. The Lok Sabha Elections 2024 were the first elections to be conducted post the 2019 abrogation of Article 370 and the split of the erstwhile state in two union territories.
In Baramulla, voter turnout was 59.1 per cent and if one breaks it down age-wise, then the 18-59 year age group saw 86.87 per cent voter turnout.
“My campaign is not personal. I am fighting on my father’s behalf and his achievements, Abrar told BOOM.
Abrar’s hope is still alive. “My father is still an undertrial, he has not been convicted yet. If he is pronounced guilty then the issue is closed. But till he is not convicted, we will use the democratic process to participate in democracy,” he added.