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Karnataka bypolls: Congress, BJP candidates the richest, says ADR report
In Karnataka, the two national parties Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, continue their practice of fielding wealthy individuals
At least half of the 19 candidates for the Karnataka bypolls in Hanagal and Sindgi constituencies on October 30 have assets in crores, while the poorest among them has just ₹70,000, according to a joint report published by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association forDemocratic Reforms (ADR) on Wednesday.
“Four candidates were not analysed due to unclear affidavit available on the ECI website at the time of making this report,” the ADR said in its report.
In Karnataka, the two national parties Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress, continue their practice of fielding wealthy individuals.
Shivaraj Sharanappa Sajjanar, the BJP candidate for Hanagal, has assets to the tune of ₹13.48 crore and is the richest among those taking part in the October 30 bypolls across both constituencies. The other BJP candidate, Bhusanur Ramesh Balappa is valued at ₹3.77 crores.
Ashok Mallappa Managuli, the Congress candidate from Sindgi, is valued at ₹7.37 crore, the data shows. His father M C Managuli was a JD(S) MLA and a minister whose death in January this year necessitated the by-poll.
The other Congress candidate, Srinivas Mane from Hanagal, is valued at ₹8.35 crore. Barring one independent candidate in Sindgi, the Congress and the BJP candidates make up for the top five richest candidates in the list.
Deepika. S, a 36-year-old independent candidate has assets worth ₹3.96 crore.
For the Janata Dal (Secular) or the JD (S), Naziya Angadi, a candidate from Sindgi, is valued at ₹1.05 crore. The other JD(S) candidate from Hanagal, Nayaz Shaikh, has total assets valued at ₹1.6 lakhs and is one of the poorest candidates contesting the bypolls. Interestingly, he has liabilities worth ₹8.62 lakhs, the data shows.
Siddappa Kallappa Pujar, a 38-year-old candidate from Hanagal is valued at ₹70,500.
According to the data, two candidates have serious police cases against them. Dr Sunil Kumar Hebbi, the candidate from Karnataka Rashtra Samithi has five serious cases registered against him, while Nazeerahmad Savanur, an independent contesting the Hanagal bypolls, has one serious charge against him, data shows. There are seven graduates among the candidates and four post-graduates. Three candidates have classified their qualifications as ‘graduate professional’. The least educationally qualified person is Pakkiragowda Shankaragowda Gajigowdra, the candidate representing Raita Bharat Party, who has just an eighth-grade qualification. Kothambari Somashekhar Mahadevappa, another independent from Hanagal, has completed Class 12. One independent candidate has completed Class 12, data shows.
The youngest candidate among the lot is a 34-year-old independent while the oldest is a 71-year-old independent, data shows. Honnappa Hanamanthappa Akkivalli is the oldest candidate at 71 years while Angadi Naziya from the JD(S) is the youngest at 34.
According to the report on Wednesday, 265 candidates will contest from 30 assembly constituencies in 14 states and three Lok Sabha seats in as many states, on October 30.
