As many as 28 (19 per cent) out of the total 68 sitting MLAs in Himachal are facing criminal cases out of which eight (12 per cent) have serious criminal cases as per the analyses of affidavits submitted by the MLAs during 2017 Assembly polls by Himachal Election Watch, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).

Roads, water and unemployment are the main issues followed by education and health while price rise ranks seventh in the list, said, coordinator, Himachal Election Watch and National Treasurer Bharat Gyan Vigyan Samiti, Dr OP Bhuraita while releasing the 37-page report on analysis of criminal background, financial, education, gender and other details of sitting MLAs here today.

Fifty (74 per cent) out of 68 MLA are crorepati and the average assets of MLAs is Rs 8.45 crores. Balbir Verma from Chopal is the richest with assets worth Rs 90 crores while Kamlesh Kumari from Bhoranj is at the bottom of the list with assets of Rs 29 lakhs.

He said that 89 per cent of voters vote on the basis of the candidate’s face, personal equation and honesty while 11 per cent vote for the party. Interestingly, 20 per cent were not aware who the MLA was while 30 per cent said that MLA has not been seen in the past five years.

As per the educational qualification, out of 68 MLAs, one is VIIIth pass, 11 are Xth pass, eight and XIIth pass, 20 are graduates, 12 are professional graduates, 14 are post graduate and two are doctorate.

The agency is also undertaking an electoral literacy campaign “I will vote and you” in view of the elections to the 14th Legislative Assembly polling for which will be held on November 12. During this month-long campaign, mass dialogues are being conducted to cover more than 1500 gram panchayats with the objective of the campaign is to make people aware of the importance of voting and motivate them not to boycott polls.

The Supreme Court had also directed political parties to list reasons on their website, including their social media platforms for nominating candidates with criminal background within 72 hours of the selection of such candidates. This information shall also be published in one local vernacular newspaper and one national newspaper, besides official social media platforms of the political party, including Facebook & Twitter, he said.