The two women candidates contesting the Lok Sabha elections from three constituencies in Bengaluru this time – Sowmya Reddy from Congress (six cases) and Shobha Karandlaje from BJP (five cases) – have the most number of criminal cases registered against them, according to a report released by Bangalore Political Action Committee (BPAC) in association with DAKSH.
The report is based on the self-sworn affidavits of the six candidates from national parties – the BJP and the Congress contesting from Bengaluru. It shows that five out of the six candidates, with the exclusion of M.V. Rajeev Gowda, contesting from Bengaluru North, have criminal cases filed against them. Some of these cases are in the investigation stage, while some are pending before the courts.
Tejasvi Surya (Bengaluru South, BJP) has three cases registered against him, while P.C. Mohan (Bengaluru Central, BJP), and Mansoor Ali Khan (Bengaluru Central, Congress) have two and one cases registered against them, respectively.
Among the many cases against Ms. Reddy, the charges range from unlawful assembly and public nuisance to intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace and assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty. Ms. Karandlaje’s charges include defamation, inflammatory speech and scandalous allegations against a State, and offence of money laundering.
Incumbent MP of Bengaluru South constituency, Mr. Surya faces charges of promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc, deliberate and malicious acts and rioting among others. Both the candidates from Bengaluru Central have been charged with unlawful assembly, disobedience and public nuisance.
“A detailed analysis was conducted to understand the nature of cases and the number of cases against each candidate. This was done to help the public understand the nature and severity of the cases that have been declared in the affidavits to make an informed choice,” said a press release from BPAC.
