Bengaluru: The number of candidates with declared criminal cases has increased in all three parties between 2018 elections and now. The number of cases has gone up from 83 to 96 among BJP candidates, 59 to 122 cases among Congress candidates and 41 to 70 cases among JDS candidates, revealed the report ‘Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023: Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates’ released by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Eight candidates who have declared murder related cases (IPC Section 302), 35 candidates who have declared attempt to murder cases (Section 307) and 49 candidates who have declared cases of crime against women are contesting in this year’s State assembly election. Among the candidates who have declared cases of crime against women, one is a case related to rape.
Congress candidates have a higher number of criminal cases against them, including serious criminal cases. While 55% of Congress’s candidates have declared criminal cases, 31% have serious criminal cases. In BJP, 30% of candidates have serious cases while in JDS 25% of the candidates have declared serious criminal cases.
