BJP tops list of criminal candidates

By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Bangalore, May 11: The Karnataka Election Watch has released the criminal records of candidates contesting the second phase of the elections. The dossier also contains information about assets and liabilities of these candidates.

The Bharatiya Janata Party tops the list of candidates, with 13 of its candidates having criminal records. Leading the group is former minister B. Sreeramulu, who is facing serious charges like attempt to murder and dacoity. Nine of the Congress Party members have criminal charges followed by the Janata Dal (Secular).

KEW is part of the Association of Democratic Rights, an Ahmedabad-based non-political, non-partisan group of professors of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and the National Institute of Design (NID). The objective of the ADR is to work to improve governance and strengthen democracy in India.

In the first phase, 19 women candidates were in the fray. However, the number has come down to 14 in the second phase. The Bahujan Samaj Party fielded four while the BJP, the Dal (S) and the Congress have fielded two each.

The Congress Party’s Anil Lad, who has shown Rs 172.72 crores, tops the list of candidates with high assets followed by former minister R.V. Deshpande, who is contesting from Haliyal. Many candidates who failed to quantify their assets have been categorised as candidates with zero assets.

KEW observed that the overall quality of candidates left much to be desired. A lot of candidates are industrialists from the real estate, liquor, mining and other sectors. The average assets of candidates from the major parties was Rs 4.18 crores, which means that the parties have turned their backs on candidates with low assets.