Preliminary analysis of the candidates fielded by political parties for Karnataka assembly elections shows that money power continues to rule the state.

An analysis by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) shows 91% of Congress candidates re-contesting the elections in Karnataka are crorepatis.

87% of BJP candidates re-contesting and 79% of Janata Dal (Secular) candidates fielded again are crorepatis.

Congress has released candidate names for 218 seats, BJP for 154 seats and JD(S) for 126 seats so far.

From the lists announced so far, Congress has fielded 134 crorepati candidates out of the 218 names so far.

Out of 154 candidates fielded by the BJP, 97 are crorepatis, while the JD(S) has fielded 46 crorepati candidates from the 126 names filed so far.

10 Congress candidates, whose affidavits were available, have shown total assets above Rs 100 crore. 3 candidates of JD (S) and 1 of BJP have made it to that coveted 100 crore list.

The richest candidate so far is Priyakrishna, Congress MLA from Govindraj Nagar constituency, with total assets of Rs 910 crore.

Interestingly, richest candidates of BJP and Congress are pitched against each other in BBMP (South) constituency. JD(S)’ richest candidate is contesting from neighboring BBMP (North) seat.

There is also no bar on candidates having serious criminal cases against them. A number of those charged with serious criminal cases have been given tickets for re-contesting in this assembly election by all political parties. The percentage for BJP stands at 17%, 16% for Congress and for JD(S) 16%.

According to the ADR report, out of the 218 candidates fielded by the Congress, 23 of them are facing serious criminal cases while 48 (32%) are facing normal criminal cases. The data goes on to show that BJP has fielded 27% and JD(S) 29% candidates with criminal cases.

First Published:Apr 20, 2018 12:13 PM IST