Election Watch Report: A fourth of candidates vying for 28 seats in Bengaluru are fighting criminal cases, 157 candidates are crorepatis

A fourth of the candidates contesting the May 10 assembly polls for the 28 constituencies in Bengaluru are battling criminal cases. The nature of cases concerning 15% of candidates is serious crime.

Karnataka Election Watch, Bengaluru Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) came up with a detailed analysis on Sunday after analysing the affidavits of 384 of 389 candidates contesting the polls for 28 seats in Bengaluru.

While 92 (24%) of candidates are battling criminal cases, 57 (15%) are fighting serious criminal cases, the report said.


Among the major parties, 14 BJP, 19 Congress, 9 JDS and 9 AAP candidates have declared criminal cases. Of them, 9 BJP, 10 Congress, one AAP and 8 JDS candidates have declared serious criminal cases. Five candidates are facing cases related to crime against women, four are battling murder and nine are facing attempted murder cases, the report said.

CROREPATIS:
Out of the 384 candidates covered in the analysis, 157 are crore-patis.

The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates, the report said. Of the total candidates, 26 Congress, 27 BJP, 21 JDS and 25 AAP candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.

The analysis has estimated the average assets of candidates in Bengaluru at Rs 24.48 crore. Giving a party-wise break-up, the report put the average asset of 27 Congress candidates at Rs 145.26 crore, of 28 BJP candidates at Rs 63 crore, of 24 JDS candidates at Rs 54.97 crore and of 28 AAP candidates at Rs 10.37 crore.

Independent candidate in Chickpet Yousuf Shariff has declared the highest net worth of Rs 1633 crore, followed by Congress candidates Priya Krishna (Govindarajanagar) at Rs 1156 crore and Byrathi Suresh (Hebbal) at Rs 648 crore. Two independents and one candidate from Indian New Congress Party have declared nil assets.

About half the candidates have declared their educational qualification between fifth and 12th standard while 38% are graduates or above. Three each are non-literates and just literates.

About 30% of candidates are aged 25-40 years while 57% are between 41-60 years. A little more than 10% are aged 61-80 years while one person is 82-year old. A tenth of the candidates are women, marking a poor representation of women among the candidates fighting the polls in Bengaluru.