Criminal Background

• Winning Candidates with Criminal Cases: Of the 292 winning candidates analysed, 190 (65%) have declared criminal cases against themselves. This number was 142 or 49% in the 2021 assembly elections.

• Winning Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: The ADR report found that 170 of 290 (58%) winning candidates have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. This number was 113 or 39% in 2021.
• Serious criminal cases generally refer to grave offences under criminal law, where the alleged crime involves murder, attempt to murder, rape, or kidnapping.

• Winning Candidates with Declared Cases Related to Murder: As many as 14 winning candidates have declared cases related to murder against themselves, the report said.
• Winning Candidates with Declared Cases Related to Attempt to Murder: As many as 54 winning candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder against themselves.

• Winning Candidates with Declared Cases Related to Crime Against Women: As many as 63 winning candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 63 winning candidates, 2 winning candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376) and a person committing rape repeatedly on the same woman (IPC Section- 376(2)(n)), the report said.

Party-wise Winning Candidates with Criminal Cases

• As many as 152 or 74% out of 206 winning candidates from the BJP, 34 or 43 per cent out of 80 winning candidates from the TMC, and 2 out of 2 winning candidates from the Aam Janata Unnayan Party have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.
• Party Wise Winning Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: As many as 141 or 68 per cent out of 206 winning candidates from BJP, 25 ot 31 per cent out of 80 winning candidates from TMC, 2 out of 2 winning candidates from Aam Janata Unnayan Party have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Financial Background

• Crorepati Winning Candidates: As many as 178 candidates in the new Bengal assembly are crorepatis. In 2021, this number was 158.
• Party-wise, crorepati winning candidates: 114 out of 206 winning candidates from BJP, 59 out of 80 from TMC, and 2 out of 2 from Aam Janata Unnayan Party have declared assets worth more than ₹1 crore.

• The total assets of 292 winning candidates are ₹1,091 Crores.
• The average of assets per winning candidate in the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 is ₹3.73 Crores. The average of assets per MLA in the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021 was ₹2.53 crore.
• The average assets per winning candidate for 206 BJP candidates is ₹2.97 Crores, and 80 TMC MLAs have an average of ₹5.36 Crores.

Education Details

• As many as 92 or 32 per cent winning candidates have declared their educational qualification between 5th pass and 12th pass, while 185 winning candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and above.

Key Takeaways

• Over 50% of elected MLAs in West Bengal have serious criminal charges.
• BJP legislators have the highest percentage of criminal cases among the parties.
• The report raises concerns about the influence of criminality in politics and governance.

Gulam Jeelani

Gulam Jeelani is Political Desk Editor at LiveMint with over 16 years of experience covering national and international politics. Based in New Delhi, Jeelani delivers impactful political narratives through breaking stories, in-depth interviews, and analytical pieces at LiveMint since February 2024. The expertise in video production fuels his current responsibilities, which include curating content and conducting video interviews for an expanding digital audience.<br><br> Jeelani also travels during elections and key political events and has covered assembly elections in key states apart from national elections. He has previously worked with The Pioneer, Network18, India Today, News9Plus and Hindustan Times.<br><br> Jeelani’s tenure at LiveMint and previous experience at print and digital newsrooms have honed his skills in creating compelling text and video stories, explainers, and analysis that resonate with a diverse viewership.<br><br> Before moving to New Delhi in 2015, Jeelani was based in Uttar Pradesh, where he worked for five years as a reporter. In 2018, Jeelani was one of the two Indian journalists selected for the Alfred Friendly Fellowship in the US. There, he attended training workshops on reporting and data journalism, and he was attached to the Minneapolis Star Tribune in Minnesota, where he worked as a reporter.<br><br> Jeelani is a Bachelor's in Chemistry and holds a Masters Degree in journalism and mass communication from Aligarh Muslim University. Outside work, he enjoys poetry, cricket and movies.