Shimla, October 12
Himachal Pradesh may have the tag of a “special” (poor) category state, but its legislators are crorepatis.

An analysis of the data for 2007 Assembly polls by the Himachal Election Watch reveals that 20 out of 68 MLAs were “crorepatis.”

The ruling BJP had the highest number (11) of “crorepati” MLAs followed by the Opposition Congress with 7. Of the three Independents, two were “crorepatis”. Lakhwinder Rana of the Congress (Nalagarh) topped the list with assets of Rs 36.34 crore, followed by Khimi Ram (Banjar) of the BJP with assets of Rs 4.66 crore, Sujan Singh Pathania (Congress) Rs 4.55 crore, GS Bali (Congress) Rs 3.81 crore and Anil Sharma (Congress) Rs 3.11 crore.

As many as 27 sitting members (40% of the total) are facing criminal cases. The BJP had the highest number of members (23) facing criminal cases, including 4 pertaining to serious offences, while the Congress had three such members.