With the three major political parties having a clear-cut majority to send their candidates to the upper house based on their strength in the assembly, the election to the council seats from the assembly is set to be a unanimous decision. On Thursday, the last date for filing nominations, the 11 candidates from the three political parties presented their affidavits to the returning officer and incumbent assembly secretary.
Of these, five filed their nominations from the BJP, four from Congress and two from JD(S). The assembly will elect 11 MLCs in this biennial election to the 75-member house. A look at the affidavits suggests that the JD(S) candidate B M Farooq, who contested the Rajya Sabha elections twice in the last three years and lost, is the richest MLC who will be elected this time. Farooq and his wife have assets worth a staggering Rs 770 crore and have declared six vehicles including two high-end cars — a Range Rover and a Lexus apart from a in Camry — which alone is worth Rs 4.6 crore. The real estate magnate has a total liability of Rs 110 crore. Farooq is also likely to be the richest MLC in the legislative council. The other JD(S) candidate is S L Dharme Gowda, a former MLA from Kadur.