About 33 per cent of the 445 candidates in the fray in Himachal Pradesh are ‘crorepatis’, according to the affidavits submitted by them to the Election Commission.
In the last Assembly elections in 2007, there were only 16 per cent ‘crorepati’ candidates, said an analysis done by the Association for Democratic Reforms. The elections are due on November 4.
The richest is Brij Behari Lal Butail, Congress candidate from Palampur, who is seeking re-election. His assets have shown the highest increase of Rs 77.29 crore from Rs 91.92 crore in 2007 to Rs 169.21 crore in 2012.
He is followed by Balbir Singh Verma, Independent candidate from Chopal with Rs 41 crore, and Ram Kumar, Congress, from Doon constituency, with assets worth Rs 36 crore.
The three candidates with lowest assets are Om Prakash of Himachal Swabhiman Party (HSP) from Baijnath constituency, who has declared assets worth Rs 2,000, followed by Rama Mahendra of HSP from Palampur with assets worth Rs 10,000 and Shiv Kumar of Samajwadi Party from Sarkaghat constituency with assets worth Rs 10,000.
The link between power and asset growth can be assessed from the fact that 54 sitting MLAs are re- contesting this year, and as per their affidavits, the average growth in their assets is Rs 2.37 crore.
In 2007, the average assets of these MLAs stood at Rs 1.38 crore, which has now gone up to Rs 3.76 crore. In percentage terms, the growth in assets of re-contesting MLAs stands at 172 per cent.
As regards PAN numbers, 79 candidates have not declared their details. These include three ‘crorepati’ candidates — Vijay Jayoti, (Independent from Kasumpti Constituency), Tikender Panwar (CPM) from Shimla constituency and Vijay Kumar (SP) from Nahan constituency.
As regards women candidates, there has been a marginal rise in the number of women candidates in the 2012 Assembly elections, but in percentage terms, there is a decline.
“Out of 445 candidates, only 27 (6 per cent) candidates are women. In 2007, the total number of women candidates were 25 (7 per cent) out of the total 336 candidates contesting,” the analysis said.
On the education front, 56 per cent candidates (248 of 445 analysed) were graduates and above.
aditi.n@thehindu.co.in