Around 58% of the newly elected MLAs in West Bengal have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, the non-governmental organisation Association for Democratic Reforms said in a study on Tuesday.
In the Assembly election results declared on Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party defeated the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress in the, ending its 15-year rule in the state. The Hindutva party won 207 seats in the 294-member Assembly.
The study found that 170 legislators had declared serious criminal cases, up from 113 in 2021.
Overall, 190 MLAs, or 65% of those analysed, declared criminal cases, compared with 49% in the previous Assembly.
The organisation defines serious criminal offences as those carrying a maximum punishment of five years or more, non-bailable offences, or cases involving loss to the public exchequer. This category includes offences such as assault, murder, kidnapping, rape, crimes against women and offences mentioned in the Representation of the People Act. It also includes offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The study said that 14 winning candidates had declared cases related to murder, while 54 faced charges of attempted murder. Sixty-three winning candidates declared cases related to crimes against women, including two candidates who disclosed rape charges.
The organisation analysed the affidavits of 292 out of 293 winning candidates in the 2026 Assembly elections.
The state Assembly has 294 seats. However, repolls have been ordered in the Falta constituency, while BJP winner Arjun Singh from Noapara was not included because his affidavit uploaded on the Election Commission website was unclear at the time the study was conducted.
Party-wise, 141 of the 206 winning candidates of the BJP that were analysed, or 68%, and 25 of the TMC’s 80 winners, or 31%, declared serious criminal cases.
All winning candidates from the Aam Janata Unnayan Party, Communist Party of India (Marxist) and All India Secular Front declared serious criminal cases, while both Congress winners had clean records.
The report also found a rise in the number of wealthy legislators. Of the 292 winning candidates analysed, 178, or 61%, had assets worth more than Rs 1 crore, compared with 54% in 2021.
The total declared assets of all winning candidates stood at Rs 1,091 crore, while the average assets per MLA rose to Rs 3.7 crore from Rs 2.5 crore in the previous Assembly.
Among major parties, TMC MLAs reported average assets of Rs 5.3 crore, while BJP legislators declared average assets of Rs 2.9 crore. The two Congress MLAs had the highest average assets at Rs 17.9 crore.
The BJP’s Dilip Saha declared the highest assets at more than Rs 43 crore.
The report also analysed 102 re-elected MLAs and found that their average assets had increased by 60% since 2021, rising from around Rs 2.3 crore to Rs 3.8 crore.
Women remained underrepresented in the Assembly, with only 37 women among the 292 MLAs analysed, accounting for 13% of the total, the study said. This was slightly lower than the 14% recorded in 2021.
According to the study, 63% of winning candidates declared educational qualifications at graduate level or above, while 32% reported education between Class 5 and Class 12. One winning candidate declared being illiterate.
Also read: Assembly poll results: Change of guard in three Opposition-ruled states, BJP retains Assam
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