2018 Karnataka Assembly Elections May 12,2018 - 391 candidates facing criminal cases

As many as 391 candidates contesting the elections to the 2018 Karnataka Assembly are facing criminal cases. Of them, 254 have serious criminal cases against them.

An analysis of the affidavits filed by 2,560 candidates before the Election Commission of India has revealed this.

The analysis, taken up by the Karnataka Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms, shows that four candidates have declared cases related to murder (Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code). As many as 23 candidates are facing cases related to crimes against women.

Trilochan Sastry of the ADR told on Sunday  May 06,2018 that they were able to analyse the affidavits of 2,560 of the total 2,655 candidates contesting the elections.

The affidavits of the remaining candidates could not be analysed as they were either incomplete or badly scanned.

 He said among the major parties

• 83 of the 224 candidates of the BJP
• 59 of the 220 candidates of the Congress
•  41 of the 199 candidates of the Janata Dal (Secular) were facing criminal cases. 

Serious criminal cases (offence with maximum punishment of imprisonment for five or more and is non-bailable) have been booked against

• 58 candidates of the BJP
• 32 of the Congress and 
• 29 of the JD(S)

 After revealing these details, Mr. Sastry sought to know how would the parties fight corruption when the candidates they had fielded were facing criminal charges