883 crorepatis are in the fray

Bengaluru: About 883 of the 2,560 candidates, whose affidavits were analyzed by the ADR and the Karnataka Election Watch, are crorepatis.

Mr. Sastry said that nearly 18% (447 candidates) had declared assets of Rs. 5 crore and more, nearly 10% (252) owned assets ranging from Rs. 2 crore to Rs. 5 crore, nearly 17% candidates (442) had assets of Rs. 50 lakh to Rs. 2 crore. The average asset per candidate was Rs. 7.54 crore, he said.

The top-three candidates with the highest assets are Priya Krishna of the Congress (Rs1,020 crore) who is contesting from Govindarajanagar, N. Nagaraju of the Congress (Rs1,015 crore) who is contesting from Hosakote, and D.K. Shivakumar of the Congress Rs840 crore) who is contesting from Kanakapura.

Interestingly, Mr. Priya Krishna and Mr. Shivakumar, according to their affidavits, also have the highest liabilities of Rs802 crore and Rs228 crore respectively. Janata Dal (Secular) candidate R. Prabhakar Reddy, who is contesting from Bengaluru South, has declared a liability of Rs283 crore.

309 candidates had not declared their PAN details.

“Why is there one rule for the common man and another for political leaders? We are following this up with the Election Commission of India and asking the commission to only accept affidavits that include all details,” he said.

Educational qualification

As many as 1,351 candidates have declared their educational qualification to be between class 5 pass and class 12 pass. 981 candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduation or above. As many as 50 candidates are unlettered and 52 candidates have declared themselves as literate. Eleven candidates have not given any education qualification in their affidavits.

“The top two demands of the citizens are regular water supply and employment. But how many candidates are actually taking about these issues,” asked Mr. Sastry.

“We must vote for clean candidates to root-out corruption. People must be suspicious of candidates who are spending a lot by distributing freebies and cash while seeking votes; such candidates must not be allowed to come to power,” he. ADR plans to undertake a door-to- door campaign in this regard in Mysuru, Kodagu, and Hassan districts.