Breaking all records in the last 34 years, the Congress party earlier this year came to power in Karnataka with a thumping majority, securing 135 seats and an associate member.
As part of this victory, Congress also got as many as 19 billionaires from its party elected to the Karnataka assembly.

Overall, Karnataka has elected the highest number of billionaires in the country, with 32 of them having assets over Rs 100 crore.

Barring the 19 from Congress, the other billionaires include 9 from BJP, 2 from JD(S), 1 from KRPP, and 1 independent.

In fact, the top three richest candidates hail from Karnataka, with deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar leading the pack of billionaire MLAs in India.

Shivakumar has been recorded as the richest MLA in the nation, with declared assets of Rs 1,413 crore and liabilities of Rs 265 crore.

The second richest MLA in the country is an independent legislator and businessman — KH Puttaswamy Gowda — from Gauribidanur. This observation of moneybags being elected in large numbers has become more of a norm than an exception in today's Karnataka politics. Gowda is valued at Rs 1,267 crore and has liabilities of a mere Rs 5 crore.

Following Shivakumar and Gowda, the third richest MLA is Congress party's younger legislator, Priyakrishna, who, at 39 years of age, has declared assets of Rs 1,156 crore.

Shivakumar, in his 2023 affidavits, while declaring only a single vehicle — Toyota Qualis — in his name, had also shown two high-value wristwatches from Rolex and Hublot, along with 2 kilos of gold and 12 kilos of silver. He has a total of Rs 273 crore in immovable assets and Rs 1,140 crore in movable assets.

Meanwhile, Gowda, perhaps following the cue of Shivakumar, has declared a tractor and three two-wheelers in the names of his dependents. The MLA has declared 1.6 kilos of gold and 5 kilos of silver in his and his dependents' names. He has Rs 990 crore in immovable assets, and his movable assets are at Rs 276 crore.

But Priyakrishna has been much more open about his love for vehicles, declaring 7 cars, including an Audi, Benz, and a Pajero, apart from 9 other vehicles, which include backhoe loaders, soil compactors, and JCBs. He has also declared 1.4 kilos of gold and jewelry.

He has declared Rs 935 crore in immovable assets and Rs 221 crore in movable assets.

Interestingly, Priyakrishna also holds the record in the list of legislators from across the country for having the highest liabilities, with Rs 881 crore.

He also has the distinction of having his father, M Krishnappa, also being featured on the list of top billionaires in Karnataka at rank 18.

The top three apart, the other notable name from Karnataka who has made it to the list of billionaire MLAs in the country is tainted mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy, who declared assets of Rs 246 crore with zero liabilities, ranking 23. Most of Reddy's assets are declared in the name of his wife, Aruna Lakshmi, who also contested the 2023 assembly polls from their new party Kalyana Rajya Pragathi Paksha (KRPP).

Overall, the ADR has said that as much as 14 per cent of the Karnataka MLAs are billionaires, the highest in the country, and the average income of the legislators is Rs 64.3 crore.

While, overall, the poorest MLA in the country is Nirmal Kumar Dhara from the Indus constituency in West Bengal, with an asset of Rs 1,700 and no liabilities, the poorest MLA elected to the Karnataka assembly is BJP's Bhagirathi Murulya, who has declared assets of Rs 28 lakhs and liabilities of Rs 2 lakh.

On the other end, the Karnataka legislature has also recorded a considerable "gain" in terms of the legislators elected, with 62 per cent of the 224 legislators in the state being either graduates (50%) or postgraduates (12%).

The data has been culled out by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW), studying as many as 4,001 self-declared affidavits of as many as 4033 MLAs across 28 states and 2 Union territories.

Other Karnataka MLAs who made it to the top 20 billionaires list