Panthic faces find space: Slain radical’s son, Amritpal backer

Ludhiana: In the high-stakes battle between mainstream parties in Ludhiana, two candidates who fought on Panthic sentiment managed to find space in the electoral battle.
Sacked Congress leader Kamaljeet Singh Brar, who had strategically aligned his campaign with sentiments favouring Khadoor Sahib winner and Waris Punjab De chief Amritpal Singh, secured around 42, 500 votes, while Amritpal Singh Chhandran, son of slain militant Rachpal Chhandran, who was chief of Bhindrawala Tiger Force (BTF), also got 18, 241 votes.
Brar is the son of former Congress MLA from Jagraon and Bagha Purana constituency Darshan Singh Brar. He has also remained district chief of Moga Congress in the past. Congress had expelled him in Nov 2022 for anti-party activities. He was vocal against Warring.
His election symbol, a mic, was the same as Amritpal’s in Khadoor Sahib. Apart from choosing the same election symbol, Brar prominently featured Amritpal's images on his posters and banners during his campaign.
He received 1, 228 votes from Ludhiana East assembly constituency, 4, 224 from Ludhiana South, 3, 559 from Atam Nagar, 1, 293 from Central, 1, 482 from West, 1, 118 from North, 9, 586 from Gill, 9, 639 from Dakha and 10, 053 from Jagraon. He also got 38 postal ballot votes.
‘Dad killed by cops, mother picked up and never returned’
33-year-old Amritpal Singh Chhandran, candidate of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), also succeeded in leaving an impact in the election by securing 18,241 votes. He had also unsuccessfully contested state assembly election 2022 from Sahnewal constituency. He was also the candidate of Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) in the state assembly polls.
Chhandran said that his grandfather and father were allegedly killed by police during the peak of militancy in Punjab in 1991-92. He also said his maternal grandmother and mother were picked up by police and he never saw them again.
He said police had arrested his father Rachpal Chhandran, who was chief of Bhindrawala Tiger Force (BTF), from Gill canal in 1992. Few days later, his family received his body from the police on June 16, 1992
“There were marks of torture on the body. An entire leg had been severed from the body. Three days later, police picked my mother and maternal grandmother from their house in Shimlapuri in Ludhiana, and we neither found their bodies or saw them again,” said Amritpal.
He said he was 11 months old in 1992 when his father was killed, and mother and grandmother were picked up. His grandfather was killed in 1991.
He received 1,115 votes from Ludhiana East assembly constituency, 2, 158 from South, 1, 582 from Atam Nagar, 498 from Central, 621 from West, 527 from North, 6, 191 from Gill, 3, 170 from Dakha and 2, 337 from Jagraon. He also got 42 postal ballot votes. “I am contesting elections as no political party and individual is raising the issue of Punjab and Sikhs,” said Amritpal Singh Chhandran.