The crucial Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023 are just five days away. The elections scheduled to be held on 10 May and the results for the same will be declared on 13 May. Rivals Bharatiya Janata Party, Indian National Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) have left no stones unturned to pitch their best before people press a button on the EVM deciding the fate of the state that houses the ‘Silicon vallet of India’.
Several pre-polls and Opinion Polls have predicted a clear win for the Indian National Congress defeating the Basavaraj Bommai led BJP government in the state. The BJP has rubbished the surveys claiming them to be Congress' petty tactics.
Meanwhile, Economic Times have posted a report by Association of Democratic Reform (ADR) marking the five most richest candidates prying to win a seat in the 224 Legislative Assembly during the upcoming elections.
Let's take a look
The report states that candidates in te fray for the Karnataka Assembly Elections have declared hundreds of crores in assets in their affidavits to the Election Commission.
It has also revealed the nearly 42% or 1,087 out of 2,586 have assets in crores. The number is a significant rise by at least 35% from the assets and their owners declared in 2018, according to Association of Democratic Reform (ADR).
The ADR report posted by Economic Times, saw 592 candidates (23%) have declared assets more than ₹5 crore while 272 (11%) have assets worth ₹2 crore to ₹5 crore.
Karnataka Elections: Top 5 richest candidates
Yousuf Shariff
The first rank was bagged by Independent candidate Yousuf Shariff. Also known as KGF babu, Shariff has declared assets exceeding a staggering ₹1,633 crore. He is a prominent Congress leader, however, he is contesting from the Chickpet assembly constituency in Bengaluru as an independent candidate.
N Nagaraju
The BJP government's Minister of Small Scale Industries and Municipal Administration in Karnataka ranked second on the list. Contesting for BJP from the Hoskote constituency in the Bengaluru Rural district, Nagaraju declared assets of over ₹1,609 crore.
DK Shivakumar
The Congress poster boy and probable candidate for becoming Chief Minister in an event that Congress wins the Karnataka Elections, Shivakumar took the third place in the list of five richest candidates. He declared assets if ₹ ₹1,413 crore. He is contesting from the Kanakapura constituency
Priya Krishna
The Congress' 2009 elected MLA from Govindraj Nagar, Bengaluru, Priya Krishna is the elder son of former Karnataka minister M. Krishnappa. The legacy politician declared assets of ₹1,156 crore to Election Commission of India. He is contesting from the same constituency for the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections.
Suresha BS
On the fifth position is Congress leader Suresha BS or Byrathi Suresh. Contesting from Hebbal constituency Suresha BS has declared asets worth ₹68 crore. Notably Suresha BS is also a close associate of former chief minister Siddaramaiah.
