Bengaluru: Creating a historic milestone in the last 34 years, the Congress party achieved a resounding victory earlier this year by coming to power in Karnataka with an overwhelming majority, securing 135 seats along with an associate member.
As part of this victory, the Congress party also witnessed the election of 19 billionaires to the Karnataka assembly, contributing to a total of 32 billionaires in the state with assets over Rs 100 crore.
Apart from the 19 billionaires from Congress, there are 9 from BJP, 2 from JD(S), 1 from KRPP, and 1 independent billionaire elected to the assembly.
Remarkably, 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, declaring assets worth Rs 1,413 crore with liabilities amounting to Rs 265 crore.
The second richest MLA in the country is an independent legislator and businessman, KH Puttaswamy Gowda, from Gauribidanur, with assets valued at Rs 1,267 crore and liabilities of a mere Rs 5 crore.
Following Shivakumar and Gowda, the third richest MLA is the Congress party's young legislator, Priyakrishna, who, at 39 years of age, has declared assets worth Rs 1,156 crore.
In his 2023 affidavits, Shivakumar declared only a single vehicle, a Toyota Qualis, in his name, but also disclosed two high-value wristwatches from Rolex and Hublot, along with 2 kilograms of gold and 12 kilograms of silver. His total immovable assets are valued at Rs 273 crore, and movable assets at Rs 1,140 crore.
Meanwhile, Gowda, possibly taking cues from Shivakumar, declared a tractor and three two-wheelers in the names of his dependents. He also declared 1.6 kilograms of gold and 5 kilograms of silver in his and his dependents' names, with immovable assets valued at Rs 990 crore and movable assets at Rs 276 crore.
Priyakrishna, on the other hand, openly declared his love for vehicles, stating ownership of 7 cars, including an Audi, Benz, and a Pajero, as well as 9 other vehicles such as backhoe loaders, soil compactors, and JCBs. He also declared 1.4 kilograms of gold and jewelry, with immovable assets worth Rs 935 crore and movable assets worth Rs 221 crore.
Notably, Priyakrishna also holds the record for having the highest liabilities among legislators from across the country, with Rs 881 crore in liabilities. His father, M Krishnappa, is also featured on the list of top billionaires in Karnataka at rank 18.
Among other notable names, the tainted mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy made it to the list of billionaire MLAs in the country, declaring assets worth Rs 246 crore with zero liabilities, ranking 23. Most of his 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 Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have reported that 14 percent of Karnataka MLAs are billionaires, the highest in the country, with an average income of Rs 64.3 crore.
In contrast, the poorest MLA in the country is Nirmal Kumar Dhara from the Indus constituency in West Bengal, with assets worth Rs 1,700 and no liabilities. The poorest MLA elected to the Karnataka assembly is BJP's Bhagirathi Murulya, who declared assets worth Rs 28 lakhs and liabilities of Rs 2 lakhs.
On a positive note, the Karnataka legislature has also recorded a significant increase in the number of educated legislators, with 62 percent of the 224 legislators in the state being either graduates (50%) or postgraduates (12%).
These findings are based on the study of 4,001 self-declared affidavits of as many as 4,033 MLAs across 28 states and 2 Union territories by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW).
