An analysis of the Karnataka polls candidaesby ADR

Dear Friends

Karnataka Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms have analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of 1052 out of the 2948 candidates contesting in the Karnataka 2013 State Assembly Elections. These 1052 candidates belong to 6 political Parties i.e. BJP, INC, JD(S), KJP, BSRC, Loksatta Party (LSP) (and a few independent candidates who mostly are outgoing MLAs).

Following are the highlights of the Analysis;

Highlights:

· Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) has analyzed self-sworn affidavits of 1052 out of the 2948 candidates contesting in the Karnataka 2013 State Assembly Elections. These 1052 candidates belong to 6 political Parties i.e. BJP, INC, JD(S), KJP, BSRC, Loksatta Party (LSP) (and a few independent candidates who mostly are outgoing MLAs). A total of 2242 candidates contested the 2008 Karnataka State Assembly Elections.

Re-contesting Candidates:

Karntaka Election Watch analyed affidavits of 347 candidates who previously contested in the 2008 Karnataka State Assembly Elections and are now re-contesting in the 2013 State Assembly Elections. Average Asset Increase: The average asset increase of 347 recontesting candidates from the 2008 to 2013 Assembly Elections is more than Rs 6.25 crores or 79%

Party Wise Average Asset Increase: 118 re-contesting candidates of INC have shown an average asset increase of more than Rs 8.76 crores, their assets have increased from Rs 16.08 crore in 2008 to 24.85 crores in 2013. Similarly for 93 candidates of BJP the average asset increase is more than Rs 6 crores (Rs 4.5 crore in 2008 to Rs 10.5 crores in 2013). 71 re-contesting candidates of JD(S) have shown an average increase in assets of Rs 5.93 crores (from Rs 4.4 crore in 2008 to Rs 10.34 crores in 2013). 13 re-contesting candidates of BSRC showed an increase of Rs 2.83 crores (from Rs 2.44 crore in 2008 to Rs 5.27 Crore from 2008 to in 2013) while 44 re-contesting candidates of KJP showed an increase of Rs 1.93 crore (from 1.22 crore in 2008 to 3.15 crores in 2013).

Highest Increase in Assets: D.K Shivkumar of INC from Kanakapura Constituency has shown the maximum growth in assets of Rs 175 crore which increased from Rs 75 crore in 2008 to Rs 251 crore in 2013 followed by Priyakrishna of INC from Govindrajnagar Constituency with an increase of Rs 143 crore, from Rs 767 crore in 2008 to Rs 910 crores in 2013 and and Santosh Lad of INC from Kalaghati Constituency with an increase of Rs 124 crore from Rs 61 crore in 2008 to Rs 186 crore in 2013.

Maximum Decrease in Assets: HP Rajesh of INC from Jagalur Constituency has shown the highest decrease in assets with -93% from Rs 1.01 crores in 2008 to Rs 7.5 Lakh in 2013 Assembly Elections followed by M Lakshmana of BJP from Hosadurga Constituency with -87% from 1.6 crores in 2008 to Rs 20 Lakhs in 2013. Anajanamurthy of INC from Nelamangala Constituency has shown a decrease of -86% from 10.6 crores in 2008 to 1.5 crores in 2013.has shown a decrease of -86% from 10.6 crores in 2008 to 1.5 crores in 2013.

Financial:

· Crorepati Candidates: Out of these 1052 candidates contesting from the 6 major political parties in Karnataka, 681 (or 65%) are crorepatis.

· Average Assets: Out of the 1052 candidates, the average asset per candidate contesting in the 2013 Karnataka Assembly Elections is Rs 9.07 crore.

· Party-wise Average Assets: The average asset per candidate for INC (217 analyzed candidates) is Rs 21.99 Crore, for JD (S) (215 analyzed candidates) the average is Rs 10 .5 Crore, for BJP (218 analyzed candidates) average is Rs 7 Crore, for KJP (197 analyzed candidates) the average is Rs 2.76 Crore and for BSRC (171 analyzed candidates) the average is Rs 1.84 Crore and LSP (22 analyzed candidates) the average is Rs 1.88 crore.

· Highest Asset Candidates: The top three candidates with highest declared assets are (in decreasing order):Priyakrishna of INC from Govindrajnagar Constituency has declared assets worth Rs 910 crores followed by N Nagaraju (M.T.B) of INC from Hosakote Constituency with assets worth Rs 470 crore and Anil Lad of INC from Bellary City Consituency with assets worth Rs 288 crores. Among the 215 candidates analyzed for JD(S) the,K. Bagegowda from Basavanagudi constituency has declared the total assets of Rs. 250 crores. Similarly from BJP, the highest assets of worth Rs. 118 crores have been declared by N.S. Nandiesha Reddy who is contesting from K.R. Pura constituency.

· Low Asset Candidates: Out of 1052 candidates belonging to 6 major political parties, analysed from Karnataka, a total of 61 candidates have declared assets less than Rs. 1 Lakh.

· Lowest Asset Candidates: R Sathya Narayana of KJP from K.R Pura Consituency has declared zeroassets in his affidavit. Ramanna R.H.J of Loksatta Party from Raichur constituency has declared assets worth Rs 950 followed by Dr Abdul Kareem of Loksatta Party from Bidar South Constituency who has declared assets worthRs 25,000.

· Liabilities: A total of 40 candidates out of 1052 analyzed have declared liabilities of 10 crores and above.

· Highest Liability Candidates: The top three candidates with highest declared liabilities are (in decreasing order): Priyakrishna of INC from Govindrajnagar Consituency has declared the highest liabilities worth Rs. 777 crores followed by Prabhakara Reddy R of JD(S) from Bangalore South Constituency with liabilities worth Rs 200 Crore, followed by M. Krishnappa of INC from Vijayanagar Constituency with Rs 78 crores worth of liabilities.

· Undeclared PAN: 142 out of 1052 (13%) candidates contesting the 2013 Karnataka Assembly Elections have not declared their PAN details.

· Candidates who have declared ITR: 305 out of 1052 candidates (29%) declared an annual income in their ITR.

· Highest Income Candidates: N.A Haris of INC from Shantinagar Constituency has declared the highest income of worth Rs 49 crore in the last Income Tax Returns (ITR) filed for the year 2011-2012 followed by N. Nagaraju (M.T.B) of INC from Hosakote Constituency with total income worth Rs 21 crore and Prabhakara Reddy R of JD(S) from Bangalore South with an income of 9 crore. N. Nagaraju and Prabhakara Reddy R have also declared that they filed their income tax returns for the year 2011-2012.

Criminal:

· Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 1052 candidates analyzed from 6 major parties contesting in the 2013 Karnataka State Assembly Elections, 220 candidates (or 21 %) have declared criminal cases against them.

· Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: 55 out of 217 (25%) candidates fielded by INC have declared criminal cases against them followed by 48 out of 215 (22%) candidates from JD(S), 44 out of 197 (22%) candidates from KJP, 45 out of 218 (21%) from BJP, 21 out of 171 (12%) from BSRC and 2 out of 22 (9%) candidates fielded by Loksatta Party. Out of the 11 independent candidates analysed, 4 candidates (36%) have declared criminal cases against themselves.

· Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Out of the total 1052 candidates who have declared criminal cases, 110 (10%) have declared serious criminal cases. These include murder and rape related cases.

· Murder Related Cases: 13 candidates from the 6 major political parties contesting in the Karnataka 2013 Assembly Elections have declared murder related cases against them.

· Candidates with rape cases: 2 candidates, Ravikanth Patil of KJP from Indi Constituency and H.Halappa of KJP from Sorab Constituency have declared cases of rape against them.

· Candidates with Corruption Cases: 18 candidates have declared that they have cases under Prevention of Corruption Act.

Other Background details (Education, Gender, Age):

· Candidates’ Education: A total of 590 (56%) candidates out of 1052 analyzed are graduates or have higher degrees.

· Candidates’ Age: A total of 202 candidates out of the 1052 analyzed, have declared their age to be less than 40 years.

· Women Candidates: Out of 1052 candidates analyzed from the 6 major political parties, 58 (6%) women are contesting in the Karnataka 2013 Assembly Elections. A total of 170 female candidates are contesting the Karnataka 2013 Assembly Elections as compared to the 107 that contested in the 2008 Karnataka Assembly Elections.

Thanks & Regards,

Prof. Trilochan Sastry

Harish Narasappa

Vasudev Sharma

> Karnataka Election Watch (KEW):

Have you noticed one thing. The BJP was in power in Karnataka and the Congress has raised quite a noise on corruption there and yet is is the congress MLA's who have acquired he maximum assets.