Himachal Pradesh Election 2022: Congress has 61 crorepati candidates in hill state; BJP 56

Ahead of Himachal Pradesh Assembly election 2022, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms has revealed that 90% of the Congress candidates in the state are crorepatis against 82 per cent of the ruling BJP.

Assembly elections in the hill state will be held on Saturday (November 12), while the results of the elections will be declared on December 8.

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According to an ADR report, as many as 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.

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Late Congress leader GS Bali's son, RS Bali, who is contesting 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 ADR reports also revealed that the BSP, which is fighting polls on 53 seats, has about 25 per cent (or 13) of its candidates 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. 

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.

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Meanwhile, another report by the ADR revealed 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.

• Himachal Pradesh Election 2022
• Himachal Pradesh
• Congress
• BJP
• AAP