Bengaluru: Although politics is said to be a social service and a not-for-profit endeavour, the average wealth of 184 MLAs, from recognised parties and independents, who are re-contesting elections, has increased by Rs 17.32 crore since 2013.
An analysis of the affidavits filed before the Election Commission by these candidates reveals that the average wealth has increased from Rs 26.92 crore in 2013 to Rs 44.24 crore in 2018.
The analysis has been done by the Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Of all these MLAs, the assets of Mr D.K. Shivakumar, who is contesting from the Kanakapura Assembly constituency on a Congress ticket, have seen the steepest increase by Rs 588 crore - a whopping 234 per cent. His annual income as per his last returns filed is Rs 1.08 crore, and sources of income are salary, capital gains, agriculture gains and other sources such as bank interest and commission. Another Congress candidate N. Nagaraj, popularly known as MTB Nagaraj contesting from Hosakote constituency, is also on top of the list with the wealth growing by Rs 545 crore or 116 per cent.
The income of 108 candidates contesting on Congress tickets has seen an average increase of 66 per cent. At the same time, 49 candidates contesting on BJP tickets have revealed an average increase of 65 per cent in their assets. 24 candidates from the JD(S) candidates have seen an average increase of 49 per cent.
