Guns, gold, silver add to Uttar Pradesh politicians’ electoral weight

Everybody loves a good gun, gold and silver in Uttar Pradesh.

The nominations filed till now reveal almost all candidates have taken a fancy to guns apart from the precious metals. Six-time MP Maneka Gandhi, the BJP candidate from Pilibhit, loves not only animals but also gold. As of now, she tops the list with 3.5kg gold and 85kg silver. And to keep it safe, she has a rifle worth around Rs40,000.

Former army chief VK Singh, BJP candidate from Ghaziabad, has handled guns throughout his career. Expectedly, he owns weaponry worth more than Rs3 lakh, that includes a springfield rifle. What adds shine to his weaponry is 560g gold that he owns jointly with his wife.

In riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, BSP candidate Kadir Rana, who has criminal cases against him, owns a gun worth around Rs2.8 lakh, a rifle worth Rs55,000 and a pistol, which as per the affadavit is worth Rs1.1 lakh. His politcal opponent, BJP’s Dr Sanjeev Kumar owns weaponry worth Rs3 lakh and nearly 600g gold.

Gautam Budh Nagar, bordering Delhi, too figures in the list as the SP candidate, Narender Bhatti, owns weapons worth Rs1.5lakh and 350g gold. Bhatti’s been an MLA thrice and has several criminal cases, including the looting of a poll both in 1993, against him. Praveen Singh of Congress from Bareli owns a rifle worth Rs70,000, a revolver worth Rs75,000 and 260g gold.

Shahid Manzoor, the SP candidate from Meerut, has disclosed that he and his family owns 2.5kg gold in addition to a rifle worth Rs1.4 lakh and a pistol worth Rs63,000.

Election Commission guidelines say politicians have to deposit their guns at local police stations during elections.