Far from the promises made by all political parties in Karnataka on fielding 'clean' candidates, or those who have worked for years in the party, all mainstream political parties have fielded a high number of individuals with vested interests, regardless of the taint of corruption.
Of these, realtors top the list, with some estimates suggesting that 74 candidates in the fray this time have interests in the sector. This many say can have a devastating impact on the city's infrastructure. The BJP has once again given a ticket to Housing Minister V. Somanna, working the crowds in Vijaynagara constituency in West Bangalore.
In November 2011, the Lokayukta police filed a case against him and BS Yeddyurappa for illegally denotifying a prime plot of land in Bangalore for a trust run by Mr Sommana's wife.
Mr Somanna told NDTV, "In that area, of Nagdevanahalli there are 1700 acres I have taken. The lawyer has given ok, and we have registered a trust. We are not doing anything wrong."
Another recent entrant to the BJP is Nandiesh Reddy, a builder who joined the BJP during the last election. We met him as he walked the streets of the Krishna Raj Pura constituency on the eastern edge of Bangalore. In the last five years, Mr Reddy's assets have risen from Rs. 36 crores to Rs. 118 crores.
In April this year Deccan Herald reported that Mr Reddy may have illegally captured a chunk of Bangalore's vanishing lake beds in his constituency. In 2006-7, the district administration found that a certain Mr N Gurumurthy Reddy falsified records to acquire a plot of land in Chinapanahalli, a plot which turned out to be the dried up lake bed by the same name.
The land was sold onwards, but no action taken. The report speculates that the lack of action may be because Mr Gurumurthy Reddy is the father of Nandiesh Reddy.
Nandiesh Reddy is unmoved, denying all wrongdoing.
The Congress is no different.
In west Bangalore, in Govindrajnagar, they have fielded 29-year old Priya Krishna, who represents money power and inheritance. He is Karnataka's richest candidate with declared assets of Rs. 911 crores.
He says it comes from a three-decade-old real estate business run by his family.
His father and MLA from the neighbouring constituency is the veteran Congressman M Krishnappa. Also known as Layout Krishnappa, because of the large number of layouts or low cost townships he's built.
The JD(S), the party of the farmers the poorest of the poor, has banked heavily on realtors as well.
Like Prabhakar Reddy fighting from Bangalore South. He, until a month ago was the head of Sai Realtors whose brand new website says it is famous for gated communities.
The sitting MLA who he replaced says Reddy was reluctantly persuaded to enter politics by JDS leader Kumaraswamy.
Mr Reddy says he wants to do 'social work'.
Across Bangalore, the Janata Dal seems to have only fielded several other such first time 'social workers'. Like K Bagegowda, a builder, standing from Basavanagudi seat, with declared assets of Rs. 212 crores. Or TV Javarayi Gowda, a builder standing from Yeshwantpur seat, with declared assets Rs. 150 crores. Another such is ST Anand, a builder contesting from the Rajajinagar seat, with declared assets of Rs. 93 crores.
A list which the JDS top brass now wants to disown. Senior JD(S) leader PGR Scindia told us that this is not a good trend at all.
There is an immediate impact of the presence of so many vested interests, on the flow of money during the election.
The Election Commission has so far seized more than Rs.10 crores of unaccounted cash, as well as liquor, sarees and gold, which by any estimate is the tip of the iceberg.
But when builders turn politicians and vice versa, the impact on the city is far deeper, as captured in an explosive 2011 report on the grab of Government land by a former additional chief secretary, Mr V Balasubramanian.
He found that open land held by the Bangalore Development Authority has shrunk from 3000 acres to 1000 acres.
Mr. Balasubramanian says that the Land Revenue Act has enough provisions for tough action against encroachers and colluding officials, but never enforced because the 'symbiotic relationship between builders, politicians, and the city bureaucracy'.
To illustrate his point, he has printed on the cover of his report a photograph of the offices of IT companies built on the bed of the Byrasandra Lake. He says this encroachment that has reduced the lake bed by half, but because some of those buildings are owned by the son-in-law of an ex-Chief Minister, there has been no action.
His report was rejected. Not necessarily because of its cover, or its title ('Greed and Connivance') but because it was handed over to then Karnataka Revenue Minister Karunakara Reddy, whose brother is currently serving jail time for the Bellary mining scam !
Activists are now hoping to use his report to file a PIL, to jolt the new government in Karnataka into taking action.
But with more 'builder-bhai' MLAs making their way into the assembly, the prospects for serious action appear unlikley.