In 2018 Karnataka assembly elections, 184 sitting legislators who are contesting again on May 12 have seen a 64 per cent rise in their assets as compared to the 2013 elections, an analysis of their self-sworn affidavits shows.
The five richest candidates, who saw more than Rs. 100 crore addition in their wealth since the last elections, come from the ruling Congress party, a report by the NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) revealed.
The average assets owned by these 184 legislators in 2013 were Rs. 26.92 crore, which have grown to Rs. 44.24 crore now. This shows an increase of Rs. 17.31 crore.
The five richest legislators in the fray, who saw more than Rs. 100 crore increase in their assets include D.K. Shivakumar, N. Nagaraju, Shamanur Shivashankarappa, Priyakrishna and Deshpande Raghunath Vishwanath - all from the Congress.
Mr Shivakaumar had declared assets worth Rs. 251 crore in 2013, which grew to Rs. 840 crore now, an increase of Rs. 588 crore (or 234 per cent).
Mr Nagaraju had declared assets worth Rs. 470 crore in 2013, which have now grown up to Rs.1,015 crore (116 per cent rise). Mr Shivashankarappa's assets worth Rs. 67 crore in last elections have increased to Rs. 183 crore (170 per cent rise).
Mr Priyakrishna had assets worth Rs. 910 crore in 2013 which have now become Rs. 1,020 crore (12 per cent rise) while Vishwanath's assets have risen from Rs. 113 crore in the last polls to Rs. 215 crore now (or 89 per cent).
The 108 legislators of the Congress, contesting again in 2018 assembly elections, have seen an average of 66 per cent rise in their assets since 2013 while the 49 Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislators, contesting in the assembly election again, have seen an average increase of 65 per cent in their assets.
The 24 legislators of the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), who are recontesting the assembly election, have seen an increase of 50 per cent in their assets, the analysis showed.