Of the 2,654 candidates in fray for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections, at least 883 candidates are multi-millionaires and around 645 have criminal cases against them.
In its reports, the Karnataka Election Watch and Delhi-based Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), said, "The average assets of 883 crorepati candidates are worth Rs 7.54 crore. Of the 645 contestants, 254 face serious criminal cases and 391 face criminal cases.
208 out of the 223 candidates in fray from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have declared assets worth more than RS 1 crore, the highest number among all the parties contesting.
A total of 207 of the 220 candidates from the Congress, 154 of the 199 candidates from the Janata Dal-Secular (JDS) and 199 out the 1,090 independent candidates have declared assets worth more than Rs 1 crore.
The top three candidates with highest assets among all the candidates belong to the ruling party Congress.
The BJP candidates were found to be with the highest number of criminal cases against them, with 83 having criminal cases against them and 58 ohers having serious criminal charges against them including murder. Congress candidates come next in the line with a total of 59 out of the 220 candidates gave declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits while 32 have serious criminal cases against them.
Out of the 199 JDS candidates analysed by the watchdogs, 41 of them have criminal charges and 29 have serious criminal charges against them.
The independent candidates are also not left behind. Of the total 1,090 independent candidates analysed, 108 have declared criminal cases against themselves while 70 are accused of serious criminal charges.
The polling for the legislative assembly will be held in a single phase on May 12 for the 223 constituencies. The votes will be counted on May 15.
(With inputs from IANS)
