77 newly-elected MLAs have criminal background; BJP tops with 42

There has been a steady rise in the number of MLAs with a criminal background in the Karnataka assembly. Among the 221 newly-elected MLAs, 77 (35 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves, of which 54 MLAs have declared serious criminal cases, like murder and attempt to murder.

In 2013, the Karnataka assembly had 34 per cent of MLAs having criminal cases against them, while in 2008, the proportion of elected MLAs with a criminal background was 24 per cent, says an analysis by the Karnataka Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has bagged the highest number of seats at 104, has 42 (41 per cent) MLAs with criminal backgrounds, followed by the Congress at 23 out of their 78 and 11 of the 37 elected legislators of the Janta Dal (Secular) have declared criminal cases against themselves.

“One BJP MLA. namely Harshvardhan B. from Nanjangud constituency has not been analysed as his affidavit was poorly scanned. The elections in two constituencies namely Jayanagar and Rajarajeshwari Nagar have not been held,” ADR said.

Karnataka election: Modi besotted with Congress-free India, says Sonia

Describing the electoral fight in Karnataka as one of 'clean versus dirty politics', the Congress today hit out at the BJP for fielding the "corrupt" as it launched an initiative for public funding of its candidates.

Seeking to bring transparency in electoral funding, the Congress through the "crowdfunding platform" has collected Rs 5.56 lakh through 213 donations, against its "goal of Rs 28 lakh collections" from the public.

For the first time ever, the party launched the online initiative claiming all contributions made will get income tax relief.

The Congress had earlier strongly opposed the electoral bonds initiative announced by the Modi government for electoral funding.

The party's initiative comes at a time when there is a big political debate on cleaning the political system and bringing in more transparency.