With Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh scheduled to be held on November 12, the spotlight is on the 413 candidates in the fray for the 68 seats that make up the hill state's Assembly.
The Himachal Pradesh Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has analysed the self-attested affidavits of 412 candidates contesting the election this year to find out the literacy and income levels of the candidates as well as their criminal records. Out of 412 candidates analysed, 201 are from National parties, 67 are from State parties, 45 are from registered unrecognized parties and 99 candidates are contesting independently.
The report found that nearly 23 percent of candidates contesting the upcoming elections in Himachal face criminal charges The report found that 60 per cent of the candidates appearing for the polls had qualifications of graduate or above.
Criminal history
Despite directions of the Supreme Court, all political parties in Himachal Pradesh have again followed their old practice of giving tickets. This year has seen a larger number of candidates with criminal records contest for power.
Out of 412 candidates analyzed, 94 (23 percent) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. The data shows an increase from the 2017 state elections, when 61 (18 percent) of the 338 candidates analysed had declared criminal cases against themselves.
Moreover, the report also noted that 50 (nearly 12 percent) had declared serious criminal cases against themselves as opposed to 31(9 percent) candidates in the last elections.
Among the major parties, 7 (64 percent) out of 11 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 36 (53 percent) out of 68 candidates analysed from INC, 12 (18 percent) out of 68 candidates analysed from BJP, 12 (18 percent) out of 67 candidates analysed from AAP and 2 (4 percent) out of 53 candidates analysed from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
5 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women while two have murder cases registered against them.
Nine (13 percent) out of 68 constituencies going to polls are Red alert constituencies, indicating areas where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Average assets
The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy
candidates. The average assets of candidates contesting this election have been valued at Rs 4.65 crore. A total of 226 candidates who make up 55 percent of the bulk contesting this year are crorepatis.
Among the major parties 61(90 percent) out of 68 candidates analysed from INC, 56 (82 percent) out of 68 candidates analysed from BJP, 35 (52 percent) out of 67 candidates analysed from AAP, 4 (36 percent) out of 11 candidates analysed from CPI(M) and 13 (25 percent) out of 53 candidates analysed from BSP have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.
At least 21 percent of candidates have disclosed wealth of over Rs 5 crore while 18 percent have assets valuing from Rs 2 to 5 crore.
Assets of re-contesting MLAs
The average asset of these 58 re-contesting MLAs in 2022 is Rs 12.08 Crores as opposed to Rs 9.30 Crores in 2017. The average asset growth for
these 58 re- contesting MLAs, between the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections of 2017 and 2022 is Rs 2.77 Crores.
As per the ADR, re-contesting MLAs with highest asset increase include:
Balbir Singh Verma of BJP from Chopal constituency who has declared maximum increase in assets with an increase of Rs 37.71 Crores i.e from Rs 90.73 Crores in 2017 to Rs. 128.45 Crores in 2022.
Assets of Anil Sharma of BJP from Mandi constituency has increased by Rs 17.23 Crores, from Rs 40.24 Crores in 2017 to Rs 57.48 Crores in 2022.
Assets of Vikramaditya Singh of INC from Shimla Rural constituency have risen by Rs 17.06 Crores, from Rs 84.32 Crores in 2017 to Rs 101.39 Crores in 2022.
Educational qualifications
A whopping 154 (37 percent) candidates are just "school-pass", having declared their educational qualifications to be between 5th and 12th standard while 246 (60 percent) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. Eight (2 percent) candidates are Diploma holders. While two candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 2 candidates are Illiterates.
