BENGALURU: Most of them are ‘aya ram’ crorepati candidates whose riches have done a poll vault since the last election. This, according to their own affidavits filed at the Election Commission. And their education qualification is either matric or post-matric.
The BJP and Congress have fielded candidates in all 15 assembly constituencies in the upcoming bypolls, while the JDS has fielded only in 14. Interestingly, BJP candidates, who are disqualified MLAs and switched sides from Congress and JDS, have more assets. In fact, there is a steep increase in their assets compared to their affidavits filed in the 2018 assembly polls.
The affidavit of M T B Nagaraj, BJP candidate contesting from Hoskote, shows he owns Rs 1,223 crore which was Rs 1,015 crore in the 2018 assembly election when he contested on a Congress ticket.
In KR Pet, K C Narayanagowda’s assets increased from Rs 9.51 crore to Rs 23.83 crore in a span of one year while in Athani, the assets of Mahesh Kumathalli increased from Rs 27 crore to Rs 41 crore, according to his affidavit.
Another turncoat, Byrathi Basavaraj, contesting from KR Puram, has also become richer since the last polls. His assets have increased from Rs 90.58 crore in 2018 to Rs 112.9 crore now.
S T Somashekar , who is contesting from Yeshwantpur, too has shown an increase in his assets from Rs 14.14 crore to Rs 18.29 crore. Both Somashekar and Byrathi Basavaraj played an important role in 2015 to bring Congress-JDS to power in Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike though BJP was the single largest party. Ironically, the duo again played a significant role, this time in bringing down the Congress-JDS coalition government.
Some have high-end fancy cars. Like Anand Singh, who jumped ships from Congress to BJP and contesting from Vijayanagar constituency in Ballari district. He is the proud owner of 18 cars, including BMW and Benz. But his wife just owns ‘’Maruthi 800’’ 2002 model, as per his affidavit.
Political analyst Prof Sandeep Shastry said money is required for a candidate, up to a certain threshold to get some visibility. “Beyond that, it does not make any difference for the voter. It could be any election. However, caste and efficiency of the candidate will matter, but not money. Also, there is no proof of voters rejecting candidates with more money,” he said.