Around 25 of the 110 BJP candidates elected to the Karnataka assembly have criminal cases against them.
BANGALORE: Around 25 of the 110 BJP candidates elected to the Karnataka assembly have criminal cases against them.
As per a list released by NGO Karnataka Election Watch (KEW), whose members include several eminent personalities such as historian Ramachandra Guha and IIM-Bangalore faculty Trilochan Sastry, three BJP MLAs have offences as grave as murder and attempt-to-murder against their names, while the others have been charged with criminal assault, intimidation, cheating and rioting with criminal intentions.
The assets of these tainted MLAs add up to a whopping Rs168.1 crore, an average of Rs6.72 crore per person.
"Before the elections, the political parties, especially the BJP, promised not to field candidates with criminal records. But such members were not only fielded but also elected to the legislative assembly," KEW convener Sastry said, adding that the NGO would create awareness among the masses to prevent recurrence of the phenomenon.
B Sreeramulu, who has been elected from Bellary Rural, is a mining baron with attempt-to-murder cases slapped against him by former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. Supported by the Reddy brothers - Karunakara and Janardhana - Sreeramulu turned India's richest mining town, Bellary, into a war zone, burning a vehicle of the richest mining baron and politician Anil Lad.
Another mining baron from Hospet in Bellary Anand Singh, who has been elected from Vijayanagar, also has cases of attempt to murder against him. A "philanthropist", Singh is a first-timer.
Elected from Kudligi in Bellary, B Nagendra is another member with attempt-to-murder charges. Incidentally, Nagendra happens to be a relative of Sreeramulu.
The BJP, however, maintains the elected members are legally qualified to rule the state.
k_bhargavi@dnaindia.net
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