Himachal Pradesh election 2022: Know BJP, Cong's richest candidates contesting polls

Shimla: A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms based on the candidates of Himachal Pradesh assembly elections shows that 90% of the Congress candidates in the state are crorepatis against 82 per cent of the ruling BJP. Elections are to be held in the hill state on Saturday (November 12), while the results of the elections will be declared on December 8. 61 Congress candidates and 56 BJP nominees are crorepatis. Balvir Singh Verma, the BJP candidate from the Chopal constituency in Shimla, tops the list of crorepati candidates with total assets of Rs 128 crore. Vikramaditya Singh, who is fighting the election from the Shimla Rural seat and is the son of former chief minister Virbhadra Singh, is second with total assets of Rs 101 crore. R S Bali, the son of late Congress leader G S Bali and fighting polls from the Nagrota seat in Kangar district, is third on the list with total assets of Rs 96.36 crore.

In total, 55 per cent (226) of the 412 candidates fighting the 2022 elections are crorepatis in Himachal Pradesh. The AAP, which has fielded candidates on 67 of the total 68 assembly constituencies, has 35, or 52 per cent, crorepati nominees. The BSP is fighting polls on 53 seats and 25 per cent (or 13) of its candidates are crorepatis while 36 per cent (four) of candidates of CPI(M) are in the rich list. As many as 45 independent candidates are also crorepatis. 

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Also, 66 crorepati candidates are facing criminal charges and Rakesh Singha of the CPI(M) from the Theog seat faces the maximum number of criminal cases at 30. Kuldip Singh Tanwar of the CPI(M) from Kasumapti seat in Shimla district faces 20 criminal cases, while Vikramaditya Singh is facing 11 criminal cases.

Another report released by the ADR showed that out of the 58 re-contesting MLAs, assets of 49 MLAs (84 per cent) have increased ranging from five per cent to 1,167 per cent and assets of nine MLAs (16 per cent) have decreased ranging from (-) 4 per cent to (-) 37 per cent.

The average assets of these 58 recontesting MLAs fielded by various parties, including independents, in 2017 were Rs 9.30 crore which increased to Rs 12.08 crore in 2022.

The average asset growth for these 58 recontesting MLAs, between the assembly elections of 2017 and 2022, is Rs 2.77 crore while in percentage terms, the growth is 30 per cent.

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Balbir Singh Verma declared the maximum increase of Rs 37.71 crore in assets since 2017. The assets of Anil Sharma of the BJP increased by Rs 17.23 crore from Rs 40.24 crore in 2017 to Rs 57.48 crore in 2022.

Assets of Vikramaditya Singh have risen by Rs 17.06 crore from Rs 84.32 crore in 2017 to Rs 101.39 crore in 2022.

In party-wise analysis, the average assets of 35 recontesting BJP candidates rose by Rs 3.20 crore (44 per cent) to Rs 10.46 crore in 2022 from Rs 7.25 crore in 2017. For 20 Congress candidates, the average asset increase was Rs 2.3 crore (17.72 per cent) to Rs 15.31 crore in 2022 against Rs 13.01 crore in 2017.

More than 55 lakh voters in the hill state will decide the fate of 412 candidates, including Chief Minister Jairam Thakur, Vikramaditya Singh and former BJP chief Satpal Singh Satti, in 68 constituencies on Saturday.

(With PTI inputs)