Two state MPs bought guns from govt

  Only two parliamentarians from Gujarat have bought licensed weapons from the government, shows a report prepared by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW). The ‘gunpower’ in politics was talk of the townrecentlywhenPorbandarMPVitthal Radadiya brandished his gun to avoid paying toll tax. 
TAINTED MPS AND GUNPOWER Inpast11years,82MPshavepurchased guns from the government. Of these, 18 parliamentarians are facing charges of murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping among others. Of these 82 MPs, only two BJP MPs from Gujarat, BhupendrasinhSolankiandPSGadhavi, purchased guns from the government. While Solanki had purchased a.32 bore revolver on September 24 in 2003 for Rs 80,000, Gadhavi purchased a .25 pistol on June 13 in 2002 for Rs 21,075. Gadhavi also bought a .25 bore Raven Pistol on February 28 in 2008. Its sale value is Rs 55,000. 
    The government sold 675 guns between1987and2001,39between2001 and 2004, and 42 between 2005 and 2012. The data were divulged after activist Ambrish Pandey moved an RTI application seeking information on weapon allotment. 
    “This centralised sale point for VIPs under the finance ministry allows the government to follow an ad hoc, discretionary and opaque policy of allotment. For example, a gun was denied to aformerDGofCentralEconomicIntelligence Bureau despite the fact that his vigilance related work posed a security risk. But it was allotted to an officer doing a desk job,” said Pandey. 
    ADR’s analysis stated that 756 guns were sold to MPs and VIPs between 1987 and 2012. These are guns seized by customs and then sold to MPs and VIPs on a first come first served basis. 
    Atiq Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh tops the list of tainted MPs who has 44 criminal cases, including murder, pending against him. 
    Abu Asim Azmi from Maharashtra and Rakesh Sachan from Uttar Pradesh have seven criminal cases against them. 
CHECK YOUR CANDIDATES’ KUNDALI As many as 104 candidates, who are in the fray for the polls, have criminal cases pending against them. The contestants divulged the information in their affidavit to the Election Commission. While 27 of the 83 Congress candidates are facing criminal charges, BJP’s 22 contestants have criminal offences registered against them. BJP has given ticket to 87 candidates. While BSP’s seven out of 78 candidates have pending criminal cases, GPP’s 21 out of 83 candidates are facing criminal charges. SP has five out of 19 while JD(U) has seven out of 29 candidates who have criminal cases pending against them.

http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Scripting/ArticleWin.asp?From=Archive&Source=Page&Skin=MIRRORNEW&BaseHref=AMIR/2012/12/05&PageLabel=7&EntityId=Ar00700&ViewMode=HTML