M A I N   N E W S

Average assets of Himachal MLAs grew by 172%
Rakesh Lohumi/TNS

Shimla, October 25
The average Himachali may be poor and surviving on government subsidies, but the assets of their elected representatives have increased by a whopping 172 per cent.

While the assets of 20 re-contesting Congress MLAs have shot up by 184 per cent, the increase in respect of 30 BJP MLAs stands at 157 per cent during 2007-12.

The assets of three Independents have gone up by 133 per cent, but those of the lone HLP MLA, Khushi Ram Balnatah, declined by 15 per cent.

The average assets of 112 re-contesting candidates have increased by 122 per cent, with average assets of 41 Congress re-contesting candidates growing by 109 per cent, 37 BJP candidates by 153 per cent, 13 Independents by 250 per cent and seven BSP candidates by 413 per cent.

An analysis carried out by National Election Watch (NEW) on the basis of details furnished by 445 of the 459 candidates in the fray for the November 4 elections has revealed that there were 146 “crorepatis” (16 per cent), while 58 candidates have assets less than Rs 5 lakh and 55 candidates have liabilities of Rs 25 lakh or more.

All top five re-contesting MLAs with highest increase in assets are of the Congress (see box).

Anil Sharma’s assets increased from Rs 3.11 crore to Rs 29.70 crore, GS Bali from Rs 3.81 crore to Rs 24.85 crore, Vidya Stokes from Rs 97.67 lakh to Rs 8.05 crore, Subhash Manglait from Rs 19.42 lakh to Rs 7.22 crore and Rakesh Kalia from Rs 2.75 crore to Rs 7.99 crore.

Balbir Singh, an Independent, declared the highest liabilities of Rs 11.42 crore, followed by GS Bali (Congress) Rs 9.96 crore), Rajesh Sharma (Independent) Rs 3.68 crore, Rakesh Kalia (Congress) Rs 2.92 crore and Rakesh Kumar (Independent) Rs 2.30 crore.

The top five re-contesting candidates with highest increase in assets are: Brij Bihari Lal Butail, whose assets went up by Rs 77.29 crore, Anil Sharma (Rs 26.59 crore), GS Bali (Rs 21.03 crore), Dharma Veer (Rs 15.83 crore) and Virbhadra Singh (Rs 9.46 crore).

Jagdeep Chhokar and VK Malik of the NWE said the abnormal increase in the assets of elected representatives in a state like Himachal Pradesh was a matter of concern and indicated that the democracy was being hijacked by money bags, further marginalising the role of the common man.

“The parties were being run in the commode of corporate houses, the aim of which was to make money,” he said.

Party-wise average assets per candidate for the Congress come to Rs 7.39 crore, BJP Rs 1.55 crore, CPM Rs 1.72 crore, NCP Rs 77.61 lakh and BSP Rs 54.32 lakh.