PATNA, Oct. 26 -- The Bihar security apparatus has two major challenges in order to ensure peaceful polls - illegal arms and illicit liquor. The police force has been chasing criminals and recovering both in abundance. Several bahubalis (strongmen) or their kin being in poll fray has added to troubles of state police forces. Recent incidents illustrate that criminals have ramped up activities and the police too have spruced up vigil. The Bihar police, in collaboration with Delhi police, shot down four members of dreaded Sigma & Company gang before they could plan a major poll-related 'sabotage'. A considerable amount of firearms and cartridges, said police officers, have been recovered within the first fortnight since the announcement of election on October 6, hinting that "anti-socials" have been hatching plans to disrupt or influence the elections. According to the Bihar police, the recoveries so far consist of 477 firearms, including rifles and carbines, 2,451 cartridges and 95 explosives/bombs, while 26 illicit arm-manufacturing centres have so far been busted. These are the statistics till Saturday morning, said the police. In view of possible use of licensed arms in the violence, the police has also asked such licence holders to deposit their weapons. As per the Bihar police data, there are 79,504 licensed arms holders in the state, out of which just 30,924 have deposited their weapons so far, while 732 of them have been impounded and in 912 cases, licences have been cancelled. According to information provided by the Bihar police headquarters, 11,942 hamlets have been identified as 'vulnerable or sensitive' while 51,364 persons have been identified as probable sources of preventive action to be taken against them. At least 425 inter-state police nakas (pickets) are operational while there are 611 intra-state nakas in operational state. Interestingly, only two incidents have been reported to have occurred under the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act 1989 during the election so far. "We are vigilant. There is increased frisking and vehicle checking. Patrolling has also been intensified. There is also instruction to all the SPs to complete verification of weapons at the earliest," said ADG (headquarters) Kundan Krishnan, who is also nodal official for the Bihar assembly elections. Besides, criminals, anti-socials and presence of illegal weapons are not the only headache for the Bihar police. The dry state also begins to flow with illicit liquor smuggled from neighbouring states, especially as the elections approaches and the campaigning soars to crescendo. Liquor, it is believed, is an easy and effective bribe to influence voters in rural areas. In the first Assembly election in dry Bihar in 2020, there was a total seizure of 780,000 litres liquor worth Rs.15.61-crore from different parts of the state during the period of model code of conduct. The liquor recovery was to the tune of .8 to 1.3 million litres worth Rs.26.07-crore during the 2024 Lok Sabha election. The statistics of the police headquarters already show an increase in liquor recovery in 2025 compared to 2024. It was 3.461 million litres in 2024, but it reached 2.357 million litres in the first eight months by August 2025 only. In 2025, besides liquor, growing use of narcotics like heroin, brown sugar, charas, opium pose an additional challenge for the police....