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.

Why Karnataka's new government has a job on its hands despite 8.5% growth

Karnataka is grappling with income inequality, an agrarian crisis and child malnutrition even though its economy grew at 8.5%–second-highest among 10 states and union territories in 2017–to a gross domestic product of Rs 9.5 lakh crore ($141 billion) in 2017-18, according to the latest economic survey.

The 2018-19 budget for the state is Rs 2.09 lakh crore ($31 billion), which is 12% more than the budget estimate of Rs 1.86 lakh crore for 2017-18. There has been an increase in the state’s revenue as well. Karnataka’s tax revenue for 2018-19, including goods and services tax (GT) compensation, is estimated to be Rs 1.03 lakh crore ($15 billion), an increase of 13% over the revised estimate for 2017-18.

The economic survey 2017-18 highlights Karnataka’s progress on the per capita income front too. With a per capita income of Rs 142,267 per annum, Karnataka’s citizens are India’s 10th richest, behind Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra, and Kerala in 2015-16 according to national accounts.

This prosperity, however, has not led to equal distribution of wealth, robust agriculture or good access to public health systems.

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.

Why Karnataka polls 2018 will be no repeat of 2013 success for Siddaramaiah

Midway through Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s term, which began in 2013, a television channel commissioned a survey – “If elections were held tomorrow, what would be the outcome?” C-Fore, the agency that conducted the survey announced that the Congress party could take as many as 120 to 132 seats in the 224-seat state Assembly. The channel that had commissioned it would not believe the results, so it decided not to telecast the survey, leaving it to C-Fore to make the results public.

But, surely, you have to concede that the outcome was unexpected – both because of who Siddaramaiah is and what he has done in Karnataka.

Siddaramaiah’s political lineage is well-known. He was in the JD(S), as one of HD Deve Gowda’s young lieutenants, until he began to feel his rise in the party was limited because Deve Gowda was promoting his sons. He joined the Congress, and he transformed it in many ways, with a combination of social justice and distributive justice tools. He projected himself as anti-intellectual (many in his own party used to refer to him as "Nidde Ramaiah" or ‘Sleepy Ramaiah’, and Kumbhakarna, after Ravan's somnolent brother”). But Siddaramaiah begged, borrowed and stole ideas to bed the Congress down to a model of development different from other states in the country.

Modi's 'TOP' priority draws Congress' ridicule, BJP retorts 'classy' INC

Congress social media head and Karnataka leader Divya Spandana Ramya on Monday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi wondering if he was on "pot", a put-down which invited a sharp response from the BJP by calling it atrocious and "insult" to the masses.

Ramya's swipe came following Modi's comment in a rally in Karnataka during which he said farmers are his top priority and described 'TOP' as tomato, onion, and potato.

She tweeted, "Is this what happens when you're on POT?"
Modi was at a public rally to mark the culmination of Karnataka BJP's 'Parivarthana Yatra' that crisscrossed the entire state covering all the 224 assembly constituencies.