Only 227 illegal arms were seized from the districts in the state between January 8 and 31. What is more surprising is that only seven and three illegal arms were seized from the Maoist-infested districts of Purulia and Bankura, respectively.
Districts like Howrah and East Midnapore where violent political clashes took place recently, stood at the bottom of the list of districts from where illegal arms have been seized.
The Election Commission (EC) has expressed its displeasure over the progress in seizure of illegal arms.
“It is really tardy progress, particularly when all the political parties have complained to us about the presence of huge number of illegal arms and ammunition in the districts. We have repeatedly asked the district officials to intensify their efforts,” Election Commi-ssion sources said.
While 34 illegal arms were seized from South 24 Parganas and Hooghly (the two districts share the top spot), no illegal arms were seized from Coochbehar, Jalpaiguri and South Dinajpur, the state government has informed the Election Commission. This issue will be taken up by the special observers of the Election Commission in their interactions with the district officials in the next few days.
Among the special observers, the deputy inspector-general of Orissa’s armed police, P.S. Ranpise, and Bihar chief electoral officer Sudhir Kumar Rakesh, the leader of the team, have already arrived and IG (CID), Andhra Pradesh, Jitender, is expected to come on Thursday night.
“These officers will hold a video conference with officials of seven districts on Friday,” said state chief electoral officer Sunil Gupta.