With 3 days left to deadline, majority of candidates file papers

Congress candidates Vinod Asuti (Dharwad), Dr Anjali Nimbalkar (Uttara Kannada), Sagar Khandre (Bidar) and BJP’s Ramesh Jigajinagi (Bijapur) were among the 40 persons who filed nomination papers on Tuesday, for phase 3 of the Lok Sabha polls from the state.

Jigajinagi was the richest of the lot with Rs 49.58 crore, albeit about Rs 80 lakh less compared to the assets he declared in 2019. At Rs 15.78 crore, Anjali came second with no changes in the market value of the family’s immovable properties since 2018.

Asuti declared assets worth Rs 16.19 crore, a 300% rise compared to the Rs 3.8 crore he declared in 2018. A look at the affidavit shows that most of the assets are in the form of five industries involved in stone crushing, M-Sand and concrete block-making, valued at over Rs 9 crore.

Sagar Khandre, son of Forest Minister Eshwar Khandre, declared assets worth Rs 13.43 crore, a significant part of which came in the form of gift deeds.

With three more days left to file the nominations, the number of candidates in phase 3 has now gone up to 123. Candidates from major parties were yet to file nominations in Shimoga, Chikkodi, Raichur and Bagalkot constituencies.

Officials monitoring the election expenditure seized Rs 16.28 crore in cash and valuables over the last 24 hours, taking the total value of the seized materials to Rs 374.19 crore.

The seizure of Rs 2.45 crore cash in Anekal (Bangalore Rural constituency), Rs 2.02 crore cash in Dharwad, beer worth Rs 1 crore in Bagalgunte and Peenya in Bengaluru and liquor worth Rs 59 lakh from Koppal constituency were among the several cases mentioned by the election commission.