Karnataka Elections 2023: DK Shivakumar, N Nagaraju, Yousuf Shariff among richest candidates

Five out of the richest candidates in the Karnataka Elections 2023 are from Congress but the richest candidate is an independent one. Two of the richest candidates are from BJP and JD(S) each. Meanwhile, eight of the 10 candidates with zero assets are independent. Six of the 10 candidates with the highest liabilities are also from INC. 

These findings from Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) comes days before Karnataka’s May 10 Assembly elections. The high-voltage campaign comes to an end on Monday. 

The richest candidate in the fray is Yousuf Shariff, independent candidate from Chickpet, with total assets worth over Rs 1,633 crore. BJP candidate from Hosakote constituency N Nagaraju is the second richest candidate with assets worth over Rs 1,609 crore. State Congress chief, DK Shivakumar with assets worth over Rs 1,413 crore follows on the third spot. INC candidate Priyakrishna from Govindarajanagar constituency follows with over Rs 1,156 crore of assets, followed by INC’s Suresha BS from Hebbal with over Rs 648 crore, INC’s NA Haris from Shantinagar with over Rs 439 crore, BJP’s HK Suresh from Belur with over Rs 435 crore, JD(S)’s N Narayan Raju from Bommanahalli with over Rs 416 crore, JD(S)’s Anil H Lad from Bellary City with over Rs 380 crore and INC’s Deshpande Raghunath from Haliyal with over Rs 363 crore.

Priyakrishna has the highest liabilities among candidates, worth over Rs 881 crore, followed by DK Shivakumar with Rs 265 crore of liabilities, K Narayan Raju with Rs 125 crore, BJP candidate from Sidlaghatta, Ramachandra Gowda S V, with over Rs 115 crore, and Suresh BS with over Rs 114 crore in liabilities.

The candidate with the lowest total assets is independent candidate from Ramdurg constituency, Gurusiddappa Basalingappa Toggi, who has total assets worth Rs 500. Byatarayanapura’s independent candidate Kalid Khan has total assets worth Rs 1,000, followed by independent candidate from Maski (ST), EH Nayak, with total assets worth Rs 5,000. All of these candidates have zero immovable assets. 

The campaign blitz brought out the top guns from every party. Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned for the BJP and travelled to the state seven times before the poll announcements to inaugurate several government schemes and projects. 

BJP leaders, including party national president J P Nadda, BJP chief ministers Yogi Adiyanath, Himanta Biswa Sarma, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Pramod Sawant and Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman, S Jaishankar, Smriti Irani, Nitin Gadkari, too have travelled to various parts of the state for campaigning. Meanwhile, AICC president Mallikarjun Kharge, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra campaigned for Congress, and H D Kumaraswamy, with party patriarch and former PM HD Deve Gowda putting their might behind the JD(S). 

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