May 5 elections will see many moneybags in race

The May 5 elections to the State Assembly will see several crorepatis in the fray again. Most of the sitting MLAs and ministers are worth several crores and, they would be seeking re-election.

The Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) in association with Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Thursday released an analysis of ministers and MLAs for the period of 2008 to 2013. The analysis indicates that ministers and MLAs with huge assets will be trying their luck in the battle of ballots.

Prof Trilochan Sastry, convenor, KEW said the affidavits of 24 out of 27 ministers including Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar and legislators, submitted to the Election Commission of India during the 2008 Assembly polls, have been analysed. It has been found that 75 per cent of the ministers (18 out of 24 analysed) and 61 per cent of the MLAs (131 of 215 analysed) are crorepatis.

The analysis of 214 of the 224 MLAs suggests that average assets per MLA is Rs 5.98 crore. Priya Krishna, the youngest MLA in the State who represents Govindarajnagar constituency in Bangalore, has asset of Rs 767.61 crore. “He has been excluded from the analysis as his assets value is much higher than that of all other MLAs put together,” Prof Sastry said.

Harish Narasappa, a member of KEW said it is understood that most of these legislators have acquired more wealth in the last five years and, the affidavits which they will be filing for the coming polls, will throw more light on their newly-acquired assets.

The KEW is yet to get affidavits of ministers S Suresh Kumar, Revu Naik Belamagi and Kota Srinivas Poojary. The same will be updated later, he added.

Members of the KEW said 42 per cent of the ministers (10 of the 24 analysed) have declared that there are criminal cases against them. However, KEW didn’t had updated information on the status of these cases and, they were not clear whether any of these cases have been dropped.

The average assets per members of the present Assembly in the State is Rs 5.98 crore while in Tamil Nadu the average assets of the MLAs is Rs 3.98 crore. It is Rs 3.78 crore in Andhra Pradesh assembly and 1.43 crore in Kerala Assembly, said Harish.