At least 22% of the candidates contesting the Karnataka polls are facing criminal cases and 16% have serious criminal cases against them, according to the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Karnataka Election Watch released on Wednesday.
The report looks at self-sworn affidavits of 2,586 of the 2,615 candidates, who are contesting the 2023 Karnataka Assembly Elections. They have not analysed 29 candidates as their affidavits were “either badly scanned or complete affidavits were not uploaded” on the Election Commission of India (ECI) website.
Of the 2,586 candidates, 790 are from national parties, 255 from state parties, 640 from registered unrecognized parties and 901 candidates are independents.
According to the report, of the 2,586 candidates, 581 (22%) candidates have declared criminal cases, higher than 391 (15%) of the 2,560 candidates in the fray in the 2018 elections.
Similarly, this time, 404 (16%) candidates have declared serious criminal cases, up from 254 (10%) in 2018.
55% CONGRESS, 43% BJP CANDIDATES FACE CRIMINAL CASES
The report shows that around 31% candidates from the Congress and 30% from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are facing serious criminal charges – non-bailable offences, including electoral offences, offences related to loss to exchequer, assault, murder, kidnap, rape and crimes against women.
“Among the major parties, 69 (31%) of the 221 candidates from the Congress, 66 (30%) of the 224 candidates from the BJP, 52 (25%) of the 208 candidates from the Janata Dal (S) and 30 (14%) of the 208 candidates from the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have declared serious criminal cases in their affidavits,” the report said.
At least 55% of the Congress candidates and 43% from the BJP have criminal cases against them.
“Among the major parties, 122 (55%) from the INC, 96 (43%) from the BJP, 70 (34%) from the JD(S) and 48 (23%) from the AAP have declared criminal cases in their affidavits,” the report added.
Across parties, as many as 49 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women and one is facing charges of rape — Indian Penal Code (IPC) Section 376. Further, eight candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section 302) and 35 candidates have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).
In 2018, the BJP had fielded 83 candidates who were facing criminal charges, the Congress had 59, the JDS had 41 and the AAP had five.
50% SEATS ARE ‘RED ALERT CONSTITUENCIES’
A total of 111 (50%) of the 224 constituencies are ‘red alert’ constituencies, where three or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases. In the 2018 polls, just 56 (25%) constituencies had the ‘red alert’ tag.
“The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the Karnataka Assembly Elections as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 22% candidates with criminal cases,” the report said.
During the three state assembly elections held in 2023, it was observed that political parties gave unfounded and baseless reasons such as popularity of the person, does good social work, and cases are politically motivated. The report also added that “these are not sound and cogent reasons for fielding candidates with tainted backgrounds”.
The report also shows that of the 2,586 candidates analysed, 1,087 (42%) are crorepatis. In 2018, just 883 (35%) candidates were crorepatis.
In terms of parties, almost 100% candidates from the Congress and BJP have declared assets valued at more than Rs 1 crore.
“The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. Among the major parties, 215 (97%) from the INC, 216 (96%) from the BJP, 170 (82%) from the JD(S) and 107 (51%) from the AAP have declared assets valued at more than Rs 1 crore,” it added. When compared to 2018, parties have fielded more crorepatis this time.
Karnataka goes to polls on May 10 and counting of votes will be done on May 13.
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