Assets at Rs 840 crore, but D K Shivakumar raises Rs 10,000 from people to file nomination

Politicians do pull-off stunts and gimmicks during elections. Take the case of D K Shivakumar who filed his nominations from Kanakapura on a Congress ticket. Despite declaring assets worth hundreds of crores, he raised money from the people of his constituency to pay the deposit fee.

En route to file his nomination papers, Shivakumar told his supporters to collect money required for the deposit fee. The deposit fee is Rs 10,000.

D K Shivakumar said, "With this people want to be part of my election process. The money will be used for the deposit fee. I have been doing this in every election, this is not something new."

Vokkaliga strongman Shivakumar is richer by Rs 589 crore. He has reported a huge increase in wealth since the 2013 assembly elections. The 55-year-old leader declared a total wealth of Rs 840 crore in his 94-page affidavit. This, in fact, is up from Rs 251 crore in 2013 and Rs 75 crore in 2008.

He visited two temples and a mutt before filing the nomination. According to reports, a day before he went to meet controversial Nityananda Swamy at Bidadi.

Shivakumar justified meeting the sex-scandal hit, Nityananda Swamy. "I can't ignore him during the election. As you know every vote counts. There are 100 votes in Nityananda Swamy's Bidadi ashram," Shivakumar said. However, reports refuted Shivakumar's claims, saying Bidadi Ashrama doesn't come under Kanakapura constituency.