Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

Running in the Indian election? Get an armoured car

THE mechanics retrofitting cars with blast-resistant doors and bulletproof windshields in a Punjab garage have been flat out of late elections are looming, and politics can be a dangerous game in India.

In the past, prime ministers were assassinated, political motorcades ambushed and party officials attacked, and some candidates aren't taking any chances.


Orders for specialised armoured cars have been piling up at Sunchit Sobti's factory in Jalandhar, where his crew have already retrofitted four SUVs for political bigwigs since the upcoming poll, the biggest election in history was announced a few weeks ago.

It's a pattern that repeats itself every election season, said Sobti, whose father started supplying armoured cars for politicians and other VIP clients in the 1980s when an armed insurgency was raging in Punjab.

"This one is the mother of all elections," he said, as sparks flew from welding equipment on the factory floor.

"Like all big events, there are bigger risks involved and leaders want to ensure they are safe. We have been working on orders for months."

It was not just political candidates keen to bullet and blast-proof their cars but party bookkeepers and backroom heavyweights too, he added.

At least seven rival companies contacted, in northern Punjab, neighbouring Haryana and also Maharashtra state in the west, have also experienced a spike in election-related orders for armour-plated vehicles.

The market for such cars in India is worth £114.79 million a year and growing by double digits, industry representatives said. Companies like Mahindra & Mahindra, and Tata Motors, also offer a small range of pre-made armoured vehicles for civilian use.

The outlay is considerable for reinforcing a private vehicle, costing anywhere between £5356 and £53569.

It can take weeks to bolster a car with imported ballistic glass and steel plates able to withstand grenade fragments and gunfire, and even longer for the permission needed to put the car on the road.

But for some, it is a price worth paying.

"Success and jealousy knock at you together," said one Punjabi state lawmaker who last year had his SUV armour plated. He declined to be named.

"You can't even trust your friends, forget about enemies. I can't compromise on my safety."

India has a history of political violence, with particular bloodshed around election time as competition intensifies between the country's hundreds of registered parties, who field thousands of candidates at state and national polls.

More than 100 politicians or party officials were murdered in 2016 alone, the latest figures from India's National Crime Records Bureau show.

Armed insurgencies simmer in at least nine Indian states, from Kashmir in the snowy north to the jungles of the country's interior, creating risky conditions for party officials and their candidates on the hustings.

Twenty-five Congress politicians were murdered in an ambush on their convoy in 2013 by Maoist rebels in Chhattisgarh, as the restive central state prepared for regional elections.

Even in regions free of rebel uprisings, feuds between political rivals can turn deadly.

In February a regional lawmaker in West Bengal was shot dead by unidentified gunmen in the country's east.

More than two dozen political figures from warring parties have been killed in Kerala, a southern state and one of India's most developed, in the past three years.

Sometimes politicians themselves have violent records, with two dozen winning candidates in the last general election in 2014 possessing murder or attempted murder charges.

As campaigning gets under way for the 2019 contest voting starts April 11 and spans nearly six weeks, with 900 million Indians eligible to cast ballots security is again a central concern for the monumental poll.

In trouble spots, candidates are escorted by police as they drum up support.

But former Delhi police chief Maxwell Pereira said the overwhelming majority of politicians never faced any danger, and it was the state's responsibility to ensure protection for at-risk officials.

"Only police should make a call on whether they require personal protection or armoured cars, after assessing if there is a credible threat," Pereria said.

That is not stopping candidates from taking matters into their own hands and turning their cars into tanks as polling day draws near.

"We want our customers and leaders to be safe," said Narinder Singh, a mechanic at Sobti's workshop in Punjab.

(AFP)

More For You

Imran Khan

The announcement comes as the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, led by jailed former prime minister Imran Khan, prepares for nationwide protests on August 5, marking two years since his arrest.

Getty Images

Pakistan announces new paramilitary force ahead of PTI protests

PAKISTAN has announced the creation of a new national paramilitary force, raising concerns among opposition parties and human rights groups about its possible use for political repression.

The new force will be called the Federal Constabulary and will be formed by restructuring an existing paramilitary unit currently operating along the northwestern border with Afghanistan, state minister for the Interior Talal Chaudhry said at a press conference in Faisalabad on Monday.

Keep ReadingShow less
Altaf Hussain

Hussain has been living in London since 1992 and holds British citizenship. (Photo credit: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Founder of Pakistan's MQM Altaf Hussain hospitalised in London

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder Altaf Hussain has been hospitalised in London after falling seriously ill, according to a party official.

Hussain, 71, was admitted to a hospital on Thursday due to a severe illness, where doctors carried out various tests, Mustafa Azizabadi, Convener of MQM’s Central Coordination Committee, said on social media.

Keep ReadingShow less
Communities face 'powder keg' of unrest risk, report warns

Social media emerged as a significant threat to community cohesion, the British Future report said. (Photo: Getty Images)

Communities face 'powder keg' of unrest risk, report warns

COMMUNITIES remain at risk of fresh unrest unless urgent action is taken to address deep-seated social tensions, a new report, published one year after last summer's riots, has cautioned.

Titled 'The State of Us' by British Future thinktank and the Belong Network, the report published on Tuesday (15) said successive governments have failed to take action and warned that a "powder keg" of unresolved grievances could easily ignite again without immediate intervention.

Keep ReadingShow less
Metropolitan police

The Metropolitan Police said the sentencing followed a 'comprehensive operation'. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Gang jailed for stealing £1 million jewellery from London’s Indian community

FOUR members of an organised crime network that stole more than £1 million worth of jewellery from Indian and South Asian families in London have been sentenced to a total of 17 years and one month in prison.

The Metropolitan Police said the sentencing followed a “comprehensive operation” that led to the imprisonment of Jerry O’Donnell, 33, Barney Maloney, Quey Adger, 23, and Patrick Ward, 43. All four were sentenced at Snaresbrook Crown Court on Friday after previously pleading guilty to burglary.

Keep ReadingShow less
Air India flight crash
Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft, operating flight AI-171 to London Gatwick, crashed into a medical hostel complex shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on June 12.
Getty Images

After report of CAA warning on Boeing fuel switches, regulator issues clarification

FOUR weeks before an Air India Boeing 787-8 crashed after takeoff from Ahmedabad, media reports cited a safety notice issued by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) highlighting potential issues with fuel control switches on Boeing aircraft.

The CAA has now clarified that the safety notice in question — Safety Notice Number SN-2015/005 — was originally issued in 2015. The document was updated on 15 May 2025 only to change the contact email address. This routine administrative update caused the document to appear on the CAA website as if it were newly issued.

Keep ReadingShow less