Political parties in Karnataka, who are campaigning rigorously for the 10 May Assembly polls, are neck and neck when it comes to the criminal complaints against the candidates they have fielded.
According to a report from the election watch organisation Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the Congress has 31 percent, the BJP has 30 percent and the JDS has 25 percent candidates with serious criminal cases against them, as per the affidavits filed with the Election Commission of India.
The latest ADR report analyses the criminal background as well as the financial, educational, gender and other details of candidates in the Karnataka Assembly Elections-2023.
It states that 69 out of 221 candidates analysed from the Congress, 66 out of 224 candidates analysed from the BJP, 52 out of 208 candidates analysed from the JD(S), and 30 (14 percent) out of 208 candidates analysed from the AAP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
16% candidates with ‘serious criminal cases’
The report said that the overall tally of candidates who have “serious criminal cases” (an offence for which the maximum punishment is five years or more) stood at 404, or 16 percent of all the candidates in the 2023 Assembly election.
This number is at least 6 percentage points higher than that of the 2018 Assembly elections, wherein 254 (10 percent) candidates declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Of the 404 candidates with cases against them, 49 have declared cases related to crimes against women, one of which is a case related to rape.
Eight candidates have declared cases related to murder while 35 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder.
‘Barred-entry candidates’
Meanwhile, two candidates contesting in the polls are “barred-entry candidates”.
1.Vinay Kulkarni of the Congress who is contesting from the Dharwad constituency is barred from entering the Dharwad segment.
Being accused and out on bail in connection with the murder of Zila Panchayat member Yogeesh Gowda, Kulkarni is not allowed to enter the Dharwad district as per a Supreme Court order.
Though he tried to get a respite from this restriction citing the elections, the Karnataka High Court struck down his request recently.His wife who is campaigning for him expressed confidence of him winning the elections with good margin.
2.Mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, a former BJP minister who is an accused in a multi-crore mining scam, is contesting the 10 May Assembly polls on a ticket from his newly-formed party, which has been christened the Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP).
Reddy has been barred by the apex court from entering Ballari in Karnataka and the Anantapur and YSR Kadapa districts in Andhra Pradesh in connection with the illegal mining case.
Since he is barred from his playfield Ballari, Reddy chose to contest from neighbouring Gangavathi in the Koppal district.The KRPP leader has fielded his wife Lakshmi Aruna G from the Ballari City constituency against his brother Somashekhara Reddy.
Rowdy sheeter with over 30 cases
1.The BJP is fielding a rowdy sheeter, Manikantha Rathod, who faces more than 30 criminal cases in at least five districts in Karnataka, against sitting MLA Priyank M Kharge, son of AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, in the Chittapur Assembly constituency.
Rathod has been charged with attempted murder, smuggling narcotics substances, possession of illegal firearms, and illegal transportation of Anna Bhagya rice, etc.He was arrested in November last year for threatening to kill Priyank Kharge.He issued the threat at a news conference that he would gun down the Congress leader.
2.The BJP candidate Katta Jagadish, an accused in an attempted murder case, will be contesting from Hebbal.Jagadish, son of former minister and Hebbal MLA Katta Subramanya Naidu, and his associates were booked after they had allegedly attacked a few men in Sanjay Nagar on 10 March this year.
Accused in IMA Ponzi scam
1.Besides Rathode and Jagadish, former KAS officer LC Nagaraj, a main accused in the IMA Ponzi scam, too, has managed a BJP ticket.Former KAS officer and an accused in the ₹4,000-crore IMA Ponzi scheme scandal LC Nagaraj is the BJP candidate in the Madhugiri Assembly constituency, Tumakuru district.
Nagaraju was the first government official to be arrested in the I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam on 5 July, 2019.It has been alleged that he had received ₹4.5 crore to submit a pro-IMA report, despite an RBI alert.He was then the assistant commissioner of Bengaluru North.The case is still pending in court.
2.Rudragouda Patil alias RD Patil, the alleged kingpin in the Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment scandal, will contest the Assembly polls as a Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from Kalaburagi’s Afzalpur Assembly constituency.
There are 111 “red alert” constituencies in the 224 constituencies.
ADR refers to those constituencies as ‘red alert’ where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against them.In 2018, the number of such constituencies was 56, the organisation said.
