Press Release : Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022: Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates

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Nov 3, 2022, 4:29:49 AM11/3/22

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Press Release

3rd November, 2022

Dear Friends,

The Himachal Pradesh Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all 412 candidates who are contesting in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022. 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.

Note: We have not analysed the ITR details of Mukesh Agnihotri (INC), who is contesting election from Haroli constituency as his ITR annexures pages were not available with affidavit on the ECI and CEO websites.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-criminal-background-financial-education-gender-and-other-details-candidates-5

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of 412 candidates analyzed, 94 (23%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2017 Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections, out of 338 candidates analysed, 61(18%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 50(12%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. In 2017 Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections, 31(9%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Figure: Comparative analysis of Candidates with declared Criminal Cases: 2017 vs 2022

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties, 7(64%) out of 11 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 36(53%) out of 68 candidates analysed from INC, 12 (18%) out of 68 candidates analysed from BJP, 12 (18%) out of 67 candidates analysed from AAP and 2 (4%) out of 53 candidates analysed from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties, 5(46%) out of 11 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 17(25%) out of 68 candidates analysed from INC, 6 (9%) out of 68 candidates analysed from BJP, 6 (9%) out of 67 candidates analysed from AAP and 1 (2%) out of 53 candidates analysed from BSP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 5 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women.

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 2 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves.

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 3 candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.

Red Alert Constituencies*: 9(13%) out of 68 constituencies are Red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 23% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Himachal Pradesh elections have given tickets to 18 % to 64 % candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. The Supreme Court in its directions dated 13th February, 2020 had specifically instructed political parties to give reasons for such selection and why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates. As per these mandatory guidelines, the reasons for such selection has to be with reference to qualifications, achievements and merit of the candidate concerned. During the recent 10 State Assembly elections held in 2021-22, it was observed that political parties gave unfounded and baseless reasons like popularity of the person, does good social work, cases are politically motivated etc. These are not sound and cogent reasons for fielding candidates with tainted backgrounds. This data clearly shows that political parties have no interest in reforming the electoral system and our democracy will continue to suffer at the hands of lawbreakers who become lawmakers.

Financial Background

Figure: Share of Wealth among the Contesting Candidates

Share of wealth among candidates: The share of wealth amongst the candidates contesting in the Himachal Pradesh assembly elections 2022 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 crores and above	86	21%
2 crores to 5 crores	76	18%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	121	29%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	77	19%
less than 10 lakhs	52	13%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 412 candidates, 226(55%) are crorepatis. In 2017 Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections, out of 338 candidates, 158 (47%) were crorepatis.

Figure: Comparative Analysis of Crorepati Candidates: 2017 Vs 2022

Party wise Crorepati Candidates: The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. Among the major parties 61(90%) out of 68 candidates analysed from INC, 56(82%) out of 68 candidates analysed from BJP, 35(52%) out of 67 candidates analysed from AAP, 4(36%) out of 11 candidates analysed from CPI(M) and 13(25%) out of 53 candidates analysed from BSP have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections 2022 is Rs 4.65 Crores. In 2017 Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 338 candidates was Rs.4.07 crores.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 68 INC candidates analysed is Rs. 11.82 Crores, 68 BJP candidates analysed is Rs 7.30 Crores, 11 CPI(M) candidates analysed is Rs 4.08 Crores, 67 AAP candidates have average assets of Rs 3.71 Crores and 53 BSP candidates have average assets worth Rs.86.07 Lakhs.

High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Balbir Singh Verma	Shimla	Chopal	BJP	4,65,25,778	1,23,80,00,000^*	1,28,45,25,778 128 Crore+	Y
2	Vikramaditya Singh	Shimla	Shimla Rural	INC	11,05,69,447	90,33,91,586	1,01,39,61,033 101 Crore+	Y
3	R.S. Bali	Kangra	Nagrota	INC	14,90,27,042	77,46,00,000	92,36,27,042 92 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

* on assets value indicates that the candidate has not provided the total in their affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

Low assets candidates: The details of three candidates with lowest assets are as follows:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Kailash Chand	Mandi	Sarkaghat	Rashtriya Devbhumi Party	3,000^*	0	3,000 3 Thou+	Y
2	Amrita Chaudhry	Chamba	Bhattiyat	Hindu Samaj Party	5,500^*	0	5,500 5 Thou+	Y
3	Ashish Kumar	Hamirpur	Hamirpur	IND	7,440^*	0	7,440 7 Thou+	Y

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

* on assets value indicates that the candidate has not provided the total in their affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

Candidates with high liabilities: 294(71%) candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits. The details of top three candidates with highest liabilities are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Total Assets(Rs)	Liabilities (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Dharam Pal	Solan	Nalagarh	AAP	7,13,04,568 7 Crore+	12,54,27,804 12 Crore+	Y
2	Sudarshan Singh Babloo	Una	Chintpurni (sc)	INC	2,64,61,800 2 Crore+	10,35,96,766 10 Crore+	Y
3	Rakesh Kumar Chopra	Bilaspur	Ghumarwin	AAP	21,67,20,892 21 Crore+	8,76,01,241 8 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest liabilities

Candidates with high income as declared in the ITR*: The details of top 3 candidates with high income declared in ITR are given below:

S.No.	Name	Party Name	Constituency	District	Total Asset (Rs)	Self-Source of Income	Spouse's Source of Income	The financial year for which the last income tax return has been filed by candidate	Total income shown by candidate in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent) (Rs)	Self-income shown by candidate in ITR (Rs)
1	Rajinder Singh	INC	Sujanpur	Hamirpur	31,97,28,503 31 Crore+	Business, MLA Salary income from Rent & Agriculture	Rent & Interest	2021-2022	9,50,39,210 9 Crore+	23,88,210 23 Lacs+
2	Sanjay Prashar	IND	Jaswan-Pragpur	Kangra	36,03,54,528 36 Crore+	Business Earnings from Shipping company namely VR Maritime Ltd	Business Earnings	2022-2023	4,40,67,440 4 Crore+	2,26,55,250 2 Crore+
3	Rajesh Thakur	BJP	Gagret	Una	28,01,67,065 28 Crore+	Salary Income Interest & Agriculture Income	Business Income. Interest & Agriculture Income	2021-2022	3,36,28,180 3 Crore+	15,57,050 15 Lacs+

Table: Top 3 candidates with highest income as declared in ITR

Undeclared PAN: A total of 8(2%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 154(37%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 246 (60%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 8 (2%) candidates are Diploma holders. 2 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 2 candidates are Illiterates.

Age details of candidates: 91(22%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 240 (58%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 80(19%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and 1 candidate has declared his age 82 years.

Gender details of candidates: 24(6%) female candidates are contesting in the Himachal Pradesh assembly election 2022. In 2017 Himachal Pradesh Assembly Elections, 19(6%) out of 338 candidates analysed were women.

Recommendations of ADR

To remedy the existing problem of criminalization is to immediately act upon the plausible solutions offered by various committees, civil society and citizens. Supreme Court of India being the ultimate custodian of “Justice and Rule of Law” should reprimand political parties and politicians for their complete lack of will, reprehensible predilection and absence of required laws.
Permanent disqualification of candidates convicted for heinous crimes like murder, rape, smuggling, dacoity, kidnapping etc.
Disqualification of persons from contesting elections to the public offices against whom charges have been framed for having committed serious criminal offences punishable by imprisonment of at least 5 years, and the case is filed at least 6 months prior to the election in question.
Cancellation of tax exemptions given to the political parties who field such tainted candidates.
Bringing political parties under the Right to Information Act.
De-register and de-recognise any political party if it knowingly puts up a candidate with a tainted background.
Political party should annually file the information on criminal antecedents of their Office Bearers and make such records available to the public, including NIL records.
Disqualification of candidates furnishing false information in the election affidavit (Form 26).
Ensure trial of cases in which the politicians are accused to be concluded in a time bound manner.
Implementation of SC judgment dated 23^rd September, 2013 (i.e provision of NOTA buttons on the EVMs) in its letter and spirit by ensuring a) if NOTA gets more votes than any of the candidates, none of the candidates should be declared elected, and a fresh election should be held; b) in the fresh election, none of the candidates in the earlier election, in which NOTA got the highest number of votes, should be allowed to contest.
Implementation of the 25^th September, 2018 and 13^th February, 2020 SC orders on 'publication of criminal cases against candidates selected by political parties along with reasons for such selection' in its letter and spirit by directing the Election Commission of India a) to list out names of such tainted candidates selected by the political parties along with such reasons for such selection C8 including diligent publication of reasons in newspapers, T.V channels, party website etc, b) strict and constant reminders by ROs to the defaulters, c) list needs to be religiously prepared and submitted to the Supreme Court after every election, d) uploading of this list on ECI’s website for public inspection, e) a suitably heavy financial penalty levied on political parties for making insufficient disclosures, invalid and common reasons, selection of candidates based on winnability and f) Officer in-charge of a political party pertaining to submission of a compliance report should also be held accountable for such a breach.
The Election Commission of India and all State Election Commissions should make it mandatory in all elections; Parliamentary, Assembly and Local Body elections to carry display boards outside each and every polling booth showing a summarised version of candidates’ affidavits. The polling booths should essentially display details of candidate’s criminal records, assets and liabilities and education qualification.
The Election Commission of India under its ‘Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation’ (SVEEP) as well as through other national campaigns on voter awareness held before every election should inform and aware the voters that (i) taking and giving cash or gifts/freebies for votes is a criminal offense, (ii) such instances should be brought to the notice of the ECI through its web application, (iii) inform voters that information on criminal records of candidates is available on the ECI website, outside polling booths and other sources that the ECI may use.
Political parties in India should be required to announce/publish the list of candidates contesting elections at least 3 months prior to elections.
Role of money and muscle power is evident from the fact that all major political parties in Himachal Pradesh assembly elections 2022 have fielded 36% to 90% candidates who are crorepatis and 18% to 64% candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. This close and alarming nexus between money power and muscle power has got so ingrained in our electoral system that the citizens are left hostage to the current situation. Money and muscle power hurt the principles of 'free and fair elections', 'participatory democracy' and 'level playing field'. The present circumstances therefore demand an extensive deliberation by the voters so that sanctity of elections is not ridiculed by tenacious entry of tainted candidates and candidates with abnormal multiplication of assets.