Press Release: Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023 : Analysis of Format C7 - Publication of Reasons Given for Selection of Candidates with Criminal Cases by Political Parties

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May 29, 2023, 2:34:56 AM5/29/23

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Press Release

Date: May 29, 2023

Dear Friends,

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) have analysed Format C7 of 345 candidates out of 1001 contesting candidates of 8 political parties who contested in the Karnataka assembly election 2023. These 345 (34%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

The full English and Hindi reports along with the detailed Observations and Recommendations can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-format-c7-publication-reasons-given-selection-candidates-criminal-cases-political-5

Summary and Highlights

This data has been compiled from political parties' websites and social media handles that were functional before and during the above-mentioned State assembly elections. Most political parties published details as per form C7 on their social media handles such as Twitter. It must be noted that in some cases, parties may have published these details (elsewhere) and it may not have appeared in our records.

State	Total Contesting Candidates	Number of Political Parties Analysed	Contesting Candidates Analysed from Shortlisted Political Parties	Number of Candidates Analysed with Declared Criminal Cases	No. of Candidates with Criminal Cases having a Published Format C7
Karnataka	2615	8	1001	345	287

Political parties analysed:

Out of all the National, State and Registered unrecognized political parties which contested in the Karnataka 2023 Assembly Elections, the following 8 political parties have been analysed for this report.

1. Bharatiya Janata Party

2. Indian National Congress

3. Bahujan Samaj Party

4. Aam Aadmi Party

5. Janata Dal (Secular)

6. All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen

7. Communist Party of India (Marxist)

8. Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) Liberation

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of 1001 contesting candidates analysed, 345 (34%) candidates belonging to the aforementioned political parties have declared criminal cases against themselves.
Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Out of 1001 contesting candidates analysed belonging to the aforementioned political parties, 220 (22%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Format C7 has been published for 3 candidates even though no criminal cases have been registered against them. This demonstrates carelessness on the part of the political parties and insincerity in adhering to the directions of the Supreme Court.

S.No.	Name of candidate	Constituency	Political Party	No. of cases	Serious IPC counts	Reasons for selection of candidate with criminal background	Reasons as to why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected
1	Subhash Guttedar	ALAND	BJP	0	0	Sri Subhash Guttedar is a highly dedicated individual who has tirelessly devoted their time and efforts to social service in the constituency for many years. They have a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of the people and have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for all members of the community. They have built strong relationships with the voters, establishing a genuine and positive rapport with them, and have earned their trust and respect. Their unwavering commitment to the betterment of the community is reflected in their track record of achievements and the numerous positive changes they have brought about. We are confident that they are the best choice to represent the constituency and will continue to serve the people with passion, dedication, and integrity.	The Bharatiya Janata Party is dedicated to selecting the most qualified candidate who can best represent the hopes and desires of the people of the constituency. After extensive consideration and evaluation of all potential candidates, Sri Subhash Guttedar was selected as the most suitable choice. The party firmly believes that he has the necessary skills, experience, and dedication to best serve the people of the constituency and represent the values of the BJP. We are confident that he has the ability to bring about positive change and progress for the constituency and will work tirelessly to meet the needs of the people. Therefore, we stand by our decision to field him, who we believe is the best choice to represent the BJP and the people of the constituency.
2	Lokesh. V. Nayaka	KUDLIGI (ST)	BJP	0	0	Shri Lokesh V. Nayaka is a highly dedicated individual who has tirelessly devoted their time and efforts to social service in the constituency for many years. They have a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of the people and have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for all members of the community. They have built strong relationships with the voters, establishing a genuine and positive rapport with them, and have earned their trust and respect. Their unwavering commitment to the betterment of the community is reflected in their track record of achievements and the numerous positive changes they have brought about. We are confident that they are the best choice to represent the constituency and will continue to serve the people with passion, dedication, and integrity.	The Bharatiya Janata Party is dedicated to selecting the most qualified candidate who can best represent the hopes and desires of the people of the constituency. After extensive consideration and evaluation of all potential candidates, the current candidate was selected as the most suitable choice. The party firmly believes that this candidate has the necessary skills, experience, and dedication to best serve the people of the constituency and represent the values of the BJP. We are confident that this candidate has the ability to bring about positive change and progress for the constituency and will work tirelessly to meet the needs of the people. Therefore, we stand by our decision to field this candidate, who we believe is the best choice to represent the BJP and the people of the constituency.
3	Dinakar Keshav Shetty	KUMTA	BJP	0	0	Shri Dinakar Keshav Shetty is a highly dedicated individual who has tirelessly devoted their time and efforts to social service in the constituency for many years. They have a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of the people and have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for all members of the community. They have built strong relationships with the voters, establishing a genuine and positive rapport with them, and have earned their trust and respect. Their unwavering commitment to the betterment of the community is reflected in their track record of achievements and the numerous positive changes they have brought about. We are confident that they are the best choice to represent the constituency and will continue to serve the people with passion, dedication, and integrity.	The Bharatiya Janata Party is dedicated to selecting the most qualified candidate who can best represent the hopes and desires of the people of the constituency. After extensive consideration and evaluation of all potential candidates, the current candidate was selected as the most suitable choice. The party firmly believes that this candidate has the necessary skills, experience, and dedication to best serve the people of the constituency and represent the values of the BJP. We are confident that this candidate has the ability to bring about positive change and progress for the constituency and will work tirelessly to meet the needs of the people. Therefore, we stand by our decision to field this candidate, who we believe is the best choice to represent the BJP and the people of the constituency.

Reasons furnished for nominating candidates with criminal antecedents:

Out of 345 candidates with criminal cases, reasons have been furnished for 287 (83%) candidates.
Out of 220 candidates with serious criminal cases, reasons have been furnished for 191 (87%) candidates.
For 58 (17%) candidates with criminal background, no reasons for their selection have been provided by political parties.

Reasons given for top 3 candidates with highest number of total criminal cases:

S.No.	Candidate	Constituency	Political Party	No. of cases	Serious IPC Counts	Reasons for selection of candidate with criminal background	Reasons as to why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected
1	Manikanta Rathod	CHITTAPUR (SC)	BJP	43	15	Sri. Manikanta Rathod is a highly dedicated individual who has tirelessly devoted their time and efforts to social service in the constituency for many years. They have a deep understanding of the needs and challenges of the people and have worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for all members of the community. They have built strong relationships with the voters, establishing a genuine and positive rapport with them, and have earned their trust and respect. Their unwavering commitment to the betterment of the community is reflected in their track record of achievements and the numerous positive changes they have brought about. We are confident that they are the best choice to represent the constituency and will continue to serve the people with passion, dedication, and integrity.	The Bharatiya Janata Party is dedicated to selecting the most qualified candidate who can best represent the hopes and desires of the people of the constituency. After extensive consideration and evaluation of all potential candidates, the Sri. Manikanta Rathod was selected as the most suitable choice. The party firmly believes that he has the necessary skills, experience, and dedication to best serve the people of the constituency and represent the values of the BJP. We are confident that he has the ability to bring about positive change and progress for the constituency and will work tirelessly to meet the needs of the people. Therefore, we stand by our decision to field him, who we believe is the best choice to represent the BJP and the people of the constituency.
2	B Nagendra	BELLARY (ST)	INC	42	105	He is a young leader who has been elected independently because people have reposed faith in him. He has a good vision for youth, women and labour.	He has fought many cases for labourers. He is interested in the welfare of his constituency people. He has completed many projects in Bellary. Most of the cases against him are politically Motivated.
3	Y S V Datta	KADUR	JD(S)	40	0	Y S V Datta is a qualified person & a very competent leader. And he is well known leader in the state & he has deep attachment with the people in his constituency	Y S V Datta has good vision for youths, women and children. The party has given ticket to contest the election due to the demand of constituency people

Table: Reasons given for top 3 candidates with highest number of total criminal cases

Top commonly stated reasons by political parties for selection of candidates with criminal background:

Reasons for selection of candidate with criminal background	Reasons as to why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected
He is well known publicly accepted leader and has been in responsible position attached to social service	Best Candidate chosen on demand from people
highly dedicated individual who has tirelessly devoted their time and efforts to social service in the constituency	No such prospect found to replace him.
Social worker, most approachable and down to earth person	Always fought for people's right and weaker sections of the society
He is a leader of people's movements, who enjoys the trust and affection of common masses and the workers.	No Other Candidate with similar ground Support
In comparison to the other candidates and their history, it was found to be suitable being the candidates has stated that false FIR has been lodged against him	The Offences are not grave one seems to be based on false allegations. His image supported by the local office bearers of the party as clean as good.

Table: Top commonly stated reasons by political parties for selection of candidates with criminal background

Political parties that did not publish reasons for selection of candidates with criminal background*:

Political Party	Total no. of contesting candidates with criminal background	No. of Candidates without Format C7	Percentage of candidates without Format C7
INC	123	14	11%
BJP	96	35	36%
JD(S)	71	5	7%
AAP	48	3	6%
BSP	2	0	0%
AIMIM	2	0	0%
CPI(ML)(L)	2	0	0%
CPI(M)	1	1	100%

Table: Political parties that did not publish Format C7 for candidates with criminal background

*At the time of making this report, format C7 data of some political parties was not available on the websites and social media handles. However, it may have been posted earlier by the parties and removed later.

Top 3 candidates with the highest criminal cases whose reasons for selection have not been published:

S.No.	Candidate	Constituency	Party	Cases Total
1	Munirathna	Rajarajeshwarinagar	BJP	8
2	Prabhavati Basavaraj Mastmardi	Belgaum Dakshin	INC	7
3	C Venkatachalapathi	K.R. Pura	JD(S)	7

Table: Top 3 candidates with highest criminal cases whose reasons for selection have not been published

Other discrepancies in Format C7 of some candidates:

Name of the Party	Remarks
BJP	Around 70% the candidates with cases against them have given the same word to word reasons for the selection of the candidate. Selection shall be with reference to the qualifications, achievements and merit of the candidate, and not mere “winnability” at the polls Refer Party Website Link Given Here : https://karnataka.bjp.org/bjp-karnataka-2023-criminal-antecedent-declarations-form-c-7/
AAP	The Form C7 was uploaded on their party website but there is no signature of the office bearer and around 90 % the candidates with cases against them have given the same word to word reason in the both sections for selection of candidate with criminal background and reason as to why other individual without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates Refer Party Website Link Given Here : https://aamaadmiparty.org/karnataka-assembly-elections-2023-format-c7-c2/
BSP	100 % the candidates with cases against them have given the same word to word reason in the both sections for selection of candidate with criminal background and reason as to why other individual without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates Refer Party Website Link Given Here : https://bahujansamajparty.net/?page_id=3042

Financial Background

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 345 candidates, 303 (88%) are crorepatis.

High Assets Declared: Highest declared total assets of top 3 candidates, along with details of their criminal backgrounds:

S.No.	Name of the Candidate	Constituency	Political Party	Cases Total	Serious IPC Counts	Total Assets
1	N Nagaraju	Hosakote	BJP	1	1	16,09,56,44,113 1609 Crore+
2	D K Shivakumar	Kanakapura	INC	19	6	14,13,80,02,404 1413 Crore+
3	Priyakrishna	Govindarajanagar	INC	1	0	11,56,83,93,089 1156 Crore+