Battle of the arabpatis: Meet the richest candidates in Karnataka elections 2023

Karnataka assembly elections are not just the battle of the powerful but also the rich. But being a crorepati won't put a candidate in the election rich list which is dominated by arabpatis who have declared hundreds of crores in assets in their affidavits to the Election Commission.

Nearly half of the candidates, 42% or 1,087 out of 2,586, are crorepati, as per an analysis by the Association of Democratic Reform (ADR). This figure marks a significant rise from 35% recorded during the previous elections in 2018.

The average assets per candidate are Rs 12.26 crore, up from Rs 7.5 crore in 2018.


When it comes to the two major players in this political arena, the Congress and the BJP, it appears they are engaged in a neck-and-neck race in terms of fielding affluent candidates. Remarkably, 97% of the Congress candidates can proudly boast of their crorepati status, closely followed by the BJP at 96%. The JD(S), not to be outdone, has 82% of their candidates donning this crown.

The ADR report finds 592 candidates (23%) have declared assets more than Rs 5 crore while 272 (11%) have assets worth Rs 2 crore to Rs 5 crore.

Here are the top five richest candidates in the fray for the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections:

Yousuf Shariff
Yousuf Shariff, also known as KGF Babu, a prominent Congress leader, has emerged as the wealthiest candidate on this list. Running as an Independent candidate from the Chickpet assembly constituency in Bengaluru, he has declared assets exceeding a staggering Rs 1,633 crore.

N Nagaraju
N Nagaraju, the Minister of Small Scale Industries and Municipal Administration in Karnataka in the current BJP government is contesting from the Hoskote constituency in the Bengaluru Rural district. Nagaraju has been elected three times from this seat. His declared assets surpass Rs 1,609 crore.

DK Shivakumar
DK Shivakumar, the state Congress president and a seven-time MLA, has disclosed assets amounting to more than Rs 1,413 crore. DK Shivakumar is contesting from the Kanakapura constituency in the upcoming elections.

Priya Krishna
Priya Krishna is a Congress leader who was elected as MLA of Karnataka from Govindraj Nagar, Bengaluru, in 2009. He is the elder son of former Karnataka minister M. Krishnappa. Contesting from the Govindarajanagar constituency, he has declared assets amounting to Rs 1,156 crore.

Suresha BS
Congress leader Suresha BS or Byrathi Suresh is contesting from Hebbal constituency from where he got elected in 2018. He is a close associate of former chief minister Siddaramaiah and has declared assets amounting to Rs 648 crore.