About one and a half months have passed since the 18th Lok Sabha was elected, but two MPs are still in the news. These include Amritpal Singh, the chief of Waris Punjab Dey and separatist leader who won from Khadur Sahib seat of Punjab, while the other name is of Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Engineer Rashid, who won from Baramulla seat of Jammu and Kashmir."text-align: justify;">Amritpal Singh defeated Congress candidate Kuldeep Singh Jeera by 1 lakh 97 thousand 120 votes. He got one day parole to take oath as MP, after which he is again in jail. Now the question arises that being in jail, how will he fulfill his responsibilities as an MP and how will he spend his MP fund?
What are the charges against Amritpal?
Under the National Security Act (NSA), Amritpal Singh has been lodged in Dibrugarh jail in Assam since March 2023. Let us tell you that NSA is a preventive detention law, in which the government gets the right to detain anyone for 12 months without making formal charges. Khalistan supporter Amritpal was arrested by Punjab Police from Moga district last year. He has 11 cases registered against him in Punjab and one in Dibrugarh.
This is how the oath was administered
Let us tell you that under Article 99 of the Constitution, all members of Parliament have to compulsorily take oath before the President. In such a situation, Amritpal was given one day parole to go to Parliament and take oath. However, during that time he was not allowed to use mobile phone and talk to anyone on the way.
What is the rule for attending the proceedings of Parliament?
Amritpal was given a one-day parole to take oath, but this process is completely different from getting normal bail. Now Amritpal is in jail again. In such a situation, he will have to write a letter to the Speaker of the Lok Sabha and inform that he cannot attend the proceedings of Parliament. According to Article 101 (4) of the Constitution, if an MP remains absent from Parliament for 60 days without permission, then the Lok Sabha Speaker can declare his seat vacant. If Amritpal has to attend the Parliament session or vote in Parliament, then he will have to take permission from the court every time. If Amritpal is convicted and sentenced to two or more years, then his membership of the Parliament will be terminated.
How will the MP fund be spent?
Now the question also arises that how will Amritpal spend his MP fund while being in jail? Let us tell you that MP fund does not mean that its entire fund is deposited in the bank account of any MP. This fund is allotted in the name of the MP. When they have to get any development work done, they recommend the government to release the MP fund. After this, the administrative staff of the government gets that work done. If the leader holding the post of MP is in jail, then he can sign the files to get any work done. After this, that file goes to the administrative staff. In this way, the MP lodged in jail can spend his MP fund."font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, ‘Segoe UI’, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, ‘Open Sans’, ‘Helvetica Neue’, sans-serif;">
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