Several top leaders on Monday filed their nomination papers for elections to 14 constituencies in Karnataka that will be held on May 7. They include Geetha Shivarajkumar (Congress) from Shivamogga, Mrinal Hebbalakar (Congress) and Jagadish Shettar (BJP) from Belagavi, Pralhad Joshi (BJP) from Dharwad, and Basavaraj Bommai (BJP) from Haveri, who went in grand processions with supporters to file their papers.
Geetha Shivarajkumar, who filed her nomination papers at Shivamogga, declared that she possesses properties and valuables worth ₹40.04 crore. Her husband and cine actor Shivarajkumar owns properties worth over ₹49 crore. Ms. Geetha Shivarajkumar had earlier contested as JD(S) candidate for the Shivamogga seat in 2014. Then, she declared that she owned assets worth ₹6.17 crore. Her husband then possessed assets worth over ₹11.5 crore.
Interestingly, at Belagavi, the assets of Congress candidate Mrinal Hebbalkar (son of Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar) and his political opponent Jagadish Shettar are nearly equal. The total asset value of Mr. Hebbalkar is around ₹13.6 crore and that of Mr. Shettar is around ₹13.8 crore. Dr. Hita Mrinal has total assets of around ₹23 lakh. Mr. Shettar’s wife Shilpa has total assets of ₹91 lakh.
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi and his family have declared assets worth ₹21 crore and he and his wife together have liabilities worth ₹8.01 crore. While Mr. Joshi has declared movable assets worth ₹2.72 crore in his name, his wife Jyoti has movable assets worth ₹5.93 crore. He has immovable assets worth ₹11.24 crore in his name and ₹86.39 lakh in his wife’s name. During the last Lok Sabha election, Mr. Joshi had declared assets worth ₹11.13 crore and liabilities of ₹5.17 crore.
Former Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has declared assets worth ₹53.95 crore. As per the affidavit, Mr. Bommai has movable assets ₹6.12 crore and his wife Channamma has movable assets of ₹1.32 crore. In addition, he has movable assets worth ₹1.49 crore from HUF.
