CHANDIGARH: The political bigwigs of various parties in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have got their Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) retrofitted with armour-plating from a factory in Punjab, as they have to travel through ‘rough terrain’ in the upcoming parliamentary elections in their respective regions.
The orders for these specialised armour-plated vehicles had come from many politicians of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Haryana to Laggar Industries Limited in Jalandhar a few months ago and now, as the poll season is around the corner, these vehicles have been delivered to the clients.
The crew at this factory in Jalandhar takes weeks to fit an SUV with imported ballistic glass, steel plates for floor, roof and fuel tank protection. The retrofitted vehicle can withstand gunfire and to some extent, even a grenade attack.
Also, a flat-tyre protection system is installed where special tyres are imported and even if struck by a bullet can help the vehicle travel at a speed of 50 kmph.
Confirming that his company has got the orders to bulletproof vehicles in this election season, Sunchit Sobti, owner of Laggar Industries based in Jalandhar, says, “It takes 60 to 90 days to get a vehicle bullet proofed. We got some orders way back in 2017 for these elections.”
In these elections, the company has bullet-proofed more than three dozen vehicles belonging to politicians of SP and BSP in Uttar Pradesh, besides others.
In the 2004 and 2009 elections, the company had bullet-proofed 14 Ambassadors, Tata Safaris, Pajeros, Scorpios and Land Cruisers for politicians.
Violent polls
The increase in demand for bulletproof retrofitting comes due to sensitive areas in states, where personal security tops all concerns.
Poll violence in West Bengal left seven people dead and over 700 injured ahead of the 2014 general election.
In Bihar, 2 CRPF jawans were killed by Maoists while they were on their way to polling stations in Jamui constituency of Munger district.
According to NCRB data of 2014, UP and Bihar were the top two states when it came to crime related incidents.