MP Amritpal’s Custody Likely to Be Extended; New Parties Surface in Panjab

April

2026

The Punjab and Haryana High Court (PHHC) on 16 Apr dismissed Khadoor Sahib Member of Parliament (MP) Amritpal Singh’s challenge to his continued preventive detention under the National Security Act (NSA). In a related development, PHHC agreed to urgently hear the Panjab government’s fresh plea seeking permission to arrest him in Assam and keep him lodged in the Dibrugarh jail beyond the expiry of his NSA detention on 23 Apr. The bench asserted the grounds of preventive detention were clearly 'based on satisfaction founded upon objective material' in the Panjab government plea. It further said, if the petitioner was not preventively detained there was all likelihood of public order and the state’s security being prejudiced. The judgment is awaited. Meanwhile, on 17 Apr, speaking on the Women's Reservation Bill in Parliament, MP from Baramulla, Jammu & Kashmir Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid raised the issue of Amritpal's continuous detention when he too was in jail but the Parliament had allowed him to attend its sessions. Concurrently, three new political parties have emerged in Panjab before the Panjab Legislative Assembly (PLA) elections due in February 2027. Former All-India Youth Akali Dal president Kiranbir Singh Kang has launched the Punjabi Lokraj Party. Kang said his party is preparing to contest the PLA elections and promised to focus on job creation and curbing youth migration. Alongside, a social-political organization Misl Satluj (MS) has announced that it will contest the elections and field candidates across multiple constituencies. MS party president Ajaypal Singh Brar said the organization has a strong focus on public issues and emphasized that youth and women will play a significant role in the party’s campaign and representation. Earlier, on 7 Apr, Dr. Navjot Kaur Sidhu launched Bhartiya Rashtrawadi Party. Sidhu said her party would push opium cultivation in Panjab as a solution to the problem of drug abuse;the distribution of opium tablets to addicts is the only solution to the problem adding that it would also generate income for farmers and they can export opium to other countries and earn revenue; and her party will contest all seats in Panjab and that there is no question of any tie-up with any other party (earlier coverage).