Press Release: West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026: Consolidated Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other details of Candidates - Phase 1 and 2

0 views

Skip to first unread message

ADR India

unread,

8:14 AM (5 hours ago) 8:14 AM

to national...@googlegroups.com, national-el...@googlegroups.com

Press Release

Date: April 21, 2026

Dear Friends,

The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and West Bengal Election Watch have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 2920 out of 2926 candidates, who are contesting in the West Bengal 2026 Assembly Elections. Out of 2926 contesting candidates, 935 are from National parties, 383 are from State parties, 587 are from registered unrecognized parties and 1021 candidates are contesting Independently.

The full reports in English, Hindi and Bengali can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/Consolidated_Analysis_report_%28Phase1_to_2%29_of_Criminal_and_Financial_background_details_of_candidates_in_West_Bengal_2026

This report also includes Analysis of Assets Comparison of Re-Contesting MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly Election 2026

Party	Total Contesting Candidates	Total Contesting Candidates Analysed	Candidates with declared Criminal Cases	% of candidates with declared criminal cases	Candidates with declared serious criminal cases	% of candidates with declared serious criminal cases	No. of Crorepatis	Percentage of Crorepati Candidates
National Parties	935	934	378	40%	329	35%	298	32%
State Parties	383	381	136	36%	107	28%	225	59%
Registered Unrecognized Party	587	586	67	11%	62	11%	49	8%
Independent	1021	1019	102	10%	91	9%	57	6%
Total	2926	2920	683	23%	589	20%	629	22%

Table: Party Category Wise Details

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of the 2920 candidates analysed in West Bengal Assembly elections 2026, 683(23%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections, out of 2130 candidates analysed, 528(25%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.

Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 589(20%) have declared serious criminal cases. In 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections, 431 (20%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

Figure: Comparative analysis of Candidates with declared Criminal Cases: 2021 vs 2026

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,208(71%) out of 293 candidates analysed from BJP, 76(26%) out of 293 candidates analysed from INC, 112 (39%) out of 290 candidates analysed from AITC, 94 (47%) out of 198 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 8(35%) out of 23 candidates analysed from All India Forward Bloc and 3 (18%) out of 17 candidates analysed from CPI have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,188(64%) out of 293 candidates analysed from BJP, 63(22%) out of 293 candidates analysed from INC, 90 (31%) out of 290 candidates analysed from AITC, 78 (39%) out of 198 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 5(22%) out of 23 candidates analysed from All India Forward Bloc and 2 (12%) out of 17 candidates analysed from CPI have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Candidates with Criminal Cases

Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 192 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women. Out of 192 candidates, 8 candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376) and person committing rape repeatedly on the same woman (IPC Section- 376(2)(n)).

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 35 candidates have declared cases of to murder (IPC Section-302).

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 185 candidates have declared cases of attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) and (BNS Section-109).

Party wise number of candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder, murder and crime against women

Party	Number of candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder	Number of candidates with declared cases related to murder	Number of candidates with declared cases related to crime against women	*Rape
Aam Janata Unnayan party	6	0	11	1
AITC	24	9	21	2
All India Forward Bloc	2	0	3	0
All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen	1	0	4	1
All India Secular Front	12	2	8	1
BJP	69	10	77	0
CPI(M)	22	6	22	0
INC	15	2	14	1
Independent	30	4	28	2
Justice and Development Party	0	0	1	0
National Republic Party of India	0	0	1	0
North Bengal Peoples Party	1	0	1	0
Rashtriya Secular Majlis Party	1	0	1	0
Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha	0	1	0	0
SUCI(C)	0	1	0	0
CPI(ML)(L)	1	0	0	0
Revolutionary Socialist Party	1	0	0	0
Total	185	35	192	8

Table: Party wise number of candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder, murder and crime against women

*192 candidates have declared cases related to crimes against women. Out of 192 candidates, 8 candidates have declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376) and person committing rape repeatedly on the same woman (IPC Section- 376(2)(n)).

Red Alert Constituencies*: 129(44%) out of 294 constituencies are red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. 78 (27%) constituencies in the West Bengal assembly elections 2021 had 3 or more candidates with declared criminal cases.

The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 23% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in West Bengal Elections have given tickets from 18 % to 71 % candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. The Supreme Court in its directions dated 13th February, 2020 had specifically instructed political parties to give reasons for such selection and why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates. As per these mandatory guidelines, the reasons for such selection has to be with reference to qualifications, achievements and merit of the candidate concerned. During the recent Assembly elections held in february 2025, it was observed that political parties gave unfounded and baseless reasons like popularity of the person, does good social work, cases are politically motivated etc. These are not sound and cogent reasons for fielding candidates with tainted backgrounds. This data clearly shows that political parties have no interest in reforming the electoral system and our democracy will continue to suffer at the hands of lawbreakers who become lawmakers.

Financial Background

Figure: Share of Wealth among the Contesting Candidates

Share of wealth among candidates: The share of wealth amongst the candidates contesting in the West Bengal assembly elections 2026 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 crores and above	151	5%
2 crores to 5 crores	212	7%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	639	22%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	811	28%
less than 10 lakhs	1107	38%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 2920 candidates analysed, 629(22%) are crorepatis. In 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections, out of 2130 candidates, 394(18%) were crorepatis.

Figure: Comparative Analysis of Crorepati Candidates: 2021 Vs 2026

Party wise Crorepati Candidates: The role of money power in our elections is evident from the fact that all major political parties give tickets to wealthy candidates. Among the major parties 209(72%) out of 290 candidates analysed from AITC, 143(49%) out of 293 candidates analysed from BJP, 86(29%) out of 293 candidates analysed from INC, 57(29%) out of 198 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 4(17%) out of 23 candidates analysed from All India Forward Bloc and 4(24%) out of 17 candidates analysed from CPI have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate contesting in the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 is Rs 1.27 Crore. In 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 2130 Candidates was Rs. 91.69 Lakhs.

Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 293 BJP candidates analysed is Rs. 2.91 Crores, 293 INC candidates analysed is Rs 1.56 Crores, 290 AITC candidates have average assets of Rs 5.39 Crores, 198 CPI(M) candidates have average assets of Rs 1.07 Crores, 23 All India Forward Bloc candidates have average assets of Rs 79.48 Lakhs and 17 CPI candidates have average assets worth Rs. 78.44 Lakhs.

High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Jakir Hossain	Murshidabad	Jangipur	AITC	74,86,82,256	58,65,35,898	1,33,52,18,154 133 Crore+	Y
2	Goutam Mishra (Shyam)	Bankura	Barjora	AITC	57,53,66,527	48,22,00,000	1,05,75,66,527 105 Crore+	Y
3	Palash Rana	South 24 Parganas	Raidighi	BJP	21,57,56,390^*	82,90,00,000	1,04,47,56,390 104 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

* On assets value indicates that the candidate has not provided the total in their affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

Zero assets candidates: There are 4 candidates who have declared zero assets. The details of these candidates are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Mousumi Ghosh	South 24 Parganas	Behala Paschim	IND	0	0	0	Y
2	Asif Hussain	Howrah	Howrah Madhya	Aam Janata Unnayan party	0	0	0	Y
3	Sahajadi Parvin	Howrah	Uluberia Purba	Welfare Party of India	0	0	0	Y
4	Sk Habib	Howrah	Uluberia Dakshin	Aam Janata Unnayan party	0	0	0	Y

Table: Candidates with declared zero assets

Low assets candidates: The details of three candidates with lowest assets (excluding zero assets candidate) are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Rubiya Begam	Paschim Bardhaman	Durgapur Purba	Aam Janata Unnayan party	500	0	500 5 Hund+	Y
2	Sushrita Saren	Paschim Medinipur	Medinipur	SUCI(C)	700	0	700 7 Hund+	Y
3	Jashoda Barman	Jalpaiguri	Jalpaiguri (SC)	SUCI(C)	924	0	924 9 Hund+	Y

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

Candidates with high liabilities: 1020(35%) candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits. The details of top three candidates with highest liabilities are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Total Assets (Rs)	Liabilities (Rs)	Disputed liabilities (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Ahmed Javed Khan	South 24 Parganas	Kasba	AITC	39,53,53,826 39 Crore+	43,72,40,035 43 Crore+	0	Y
2	Somenath Shyam Ichini	North 24 Parganas	Jagatdal	AITC	34,72,40,611 34 Crore+	40,37,42,830 40 Crore+	0	Y
3	Goutam Mishra (Shyam)	Bankura	Barjora	AITC	1,05,75,66,527 105 Crore+	25,64,40,922 25 Crore+	0	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest liabilities

Candidates with high income as declared in the ITR*: The details of top 3 candidates with high income declared in ITR are given below:

S.No.	Name	Party Name	Constituency	District Name	Total Assets (Rs)	Self Source of Income	Spouse's Source of Income	The financial year for which the last income tax return has been filed by candidate	Total income shown by candidate in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent) (Rs)	Self income shown by candidate in ITR (Rs)
1	Jakir Hossain	AITC	Jangipur	Murshidabad	1,33,52,18,154 133 Crore+	Business	Business	2024-2025	8,86,49,600 8 Crore+	5,76,71,290 5 Crore+
2	Krishna Kalyani	AITC	Raiganj	Uttar Dinajpur	20,24,78,722 20 Crore+	Directors & Partners Salary, Share of Profit from Partnership Firm, Share Trading, Interest Income	Salary, Trading, Commission, Share Trading & Interest Income	2024-2025	5,95,22,590 5 Crore+	5,00,53,720 5 Crore+
3	Goutam Mishra (Shyam)	AITC	Barjora	Bankura	1,05,75,66,527 105 Crore+	Business Income, Interest Income, Capital Gain	Business, Rental Income, Interest Income, Capital Gain	2024-2025	5,03,87,032 5 Crore+	4,77,62,220 4 Crore+

Table: Top 3 candidates with highest income as declared in ITR

Undeclared PAN: A total of 45(2%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 1354(46%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 1419(49%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 49 candidates are Diploma holders. 68 candidates have declared themselves to be just literate and 30 candidates are Illiterates.

Age details of candidates: 854(29%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 1567 (54%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 495 (17%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years. There are 4 candidates who have declared their age to be above 80 years.

Gender details of candidates: 385(13%) female candidates are contesting in the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026. In 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections, 240(11%) out of 2130 candidates analysed were women.

Analysis of Assets Comparison of Re-Contesting MLAs

Number of re-contesting MLAs: Number of re-contesting MLAs analysed in the West Bengal assembly elections of 2026 is 202.

Average Assets in 2021 Elections: The average assets of these 202 re-contesting MLAs fielded by various parties including independents in 2021 was Rs 2.90 Crores.

Average Assets in 2026 Elections: The average asset of these 202 re-contesting MLAs in 2026 is Rs 4.74 Crores.

Average Asset growth in 5 years (2021-2026): The average asset growth for these 202 re- contesting MLAs, between the West Bengal Assembly Elections of 2021 and 2026 is Rs 1.83 Crores.

Percentage growth in 5 years (2021-2026): Average percentage growth in assets for these 202 re-contesting MLAs is 63%.

Comparative analysis of party wise average assets of re-contesting MLAs in 2021 and 2026

S.No.	Party in West Bengal Assembly 2026	Total Number of MLAs	Average Assets in West Bengal Assembly 2026 (In Rs.)	Average Assets in West Bengal Assembly 2021 (In Rs.)	Average Assets Increase/decrease (In Rs.)	Average % Increase/decrease in Assets
1.	AITC	151	5,58,35,664 5 Crore+	3,39,78,242 3 Crore+	2,18,57,422 2 Crore+	64.33%
2.	BJP	47	2,07,24,316 2 Crore+	1,12,14,943 1 Crore+	95,09,373 95 Lacs+	84.79%
3.	Aam Janata Unnayan party	1	4,44,14,849 4 Crore+	3,07,42,300 3 Crore+	1,36,72,549 1 Crore+	44.47%
4.	Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha	1	12,03,23,027 12 Crore+	18,23,64,367 18 Crore+	-6,20,41,340	-34%
5.	All India Secular Front	1	55,69,232 55 Lacs+	22,12,970 22 Lacs+	33,56,262 33 Lacs+	151.66%
6.	INC	1	52,86,543 52 Lacs+	43,70,976 43 Lacs+	9,15,567 9 Lacs+	20.95%
GRAND TOTAL		202	4,74,29,810.91 4 Crore+	2,90,96,571.75 2 Crore+	1,83,33,239.15 1 Crore+	63%

Table: Average asset increases of re-contesting MLAs - party wise

Recommendations of ADR

To remedy the existing problem of criminalization is to immediately act upon the plausible solutions offered by various committees, civil society and citizens. The Supreme Court of India being the ultimate custodian of “Justice and Rule of Law” should reprimand political parties and politicians for their complete lack of will, reprehensible predilection and absence of required laws.
Permanent disqualification of candidates convicted for heinous crimes like murder, rape, smuggling, dacoity, kidnapping etc.
Disqualification of persons from contesting elections to the public offices against whom charges have been framed for having committed serious criminal offences punishable by imprisonment of at least 5 years, and the case is filed at least 6 months prior to the election in question.
Cancellation of tax exemptions given to the political parties who field such tainted candidates.
Bringing political parties under the Right to Information Act.
De-register and de-recognise any political party if it knowingly fields a candidate with a tainted background.
Political parties should annually file the information on criminal antecedents of their Office Bearers and make such records available to the public, including NIL records.
Disqualification of candidates furnishing false information in the election affidavit (Form 26).
Ensure trial of cases in which the politicians are accused to be concluded in a time bound manner.
Implementation of SC judgment dated 23^rd September, 2013 (i.e provision of NOTA buttons on the EVMs) in its letter and spirit by ensuring a) if NOTA gets more votes than any of the candidates, none of the candidates should be declared elected, and a fresh election should be held; b) in the fresh election, none of the candidates in the earlier election, in which NOTA got the highest number of votes, should be allowed to contest.
Implementation of the 25^th September, 2018 and 13^th February, 2020 SC orders on 'publication of criminal cases against candidates selected by political parties along with reasons for such selection' in its letter and spirit by directing the Election Commission of India a) to list out names of such tainted candidates selected by the political parties along with such reasons for such selection C8 including diligent publication of reasons in newspapers, T.V channels, party website etc, b) strict and constant reminders by ROs to the defaulters, c) list needs to be religiously prepared and submitted to the Supreme Court after every election, d) uploading of this list on ECI’s website for public inspection, e) a suitably heavy financial penalty levied on political parties for making insufficient disclosures, invalid and common reasons, selection of candidates based on winnability and f) Officer in-charge of a political party pertaining to submission of a compliance report should also be held accountable for such a breach.
The Election Commission of India and all State Election Commissions should make it mandatory in all elections; Parliamentary, Assembly and Local Body elections to carry display boards outside each and every polling booth showing a summarised version of candidates’ affidavits. The polling booths should essentially display details of candidate’s criminal records, assets and liabilities and education qualification.
The Election Commission of India under its ‘Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation’ (SVEEP) as well as through other national campaigns on voter awareness held before every election should inform and aware the voters that (i) taking and giving cash or gifts/freebies for votes is a criminal offense, (ii) such instances should be brought to the notice of the ECI through its web application, (iii) inform voters that information on criminal records of candidates is available on the ECI website, outside polling booths and other sources that the ECI may use.
Political parties in India should be required to announce/publish the list of candidates contesting elections at least 3 months prior to elections.
Role of money and muscle power is evident from the fact that all major political parties in West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 have fielded 17% to 72% candidates who are crorepatis and 18% to 71 % candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. This close and alarming nexus between money power and muscle power has got so ingrained in our electoral system that the citizens are left hostage to the current situation. Money and muscle power hurt the principles of 'free and fair elections', 'participatory democracy' and 'level playing field'. The present circumstances therefore demand an extensive deliberation by the voters so that sanctity of elections is not ridiculed by tenacious entry of tainted candidates and candidates with abnormal multiplication of assets.