KOLKATA — About 58 percent of the newly elected legislators in West Bengal face serious criminal cases against them, and the average declared wealth of state assembly members has risen sharply since the last election, according to a new report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
The report, recently released by the watchdog group known as ADR, found that of the 292 members of the Legislative Assembly whose affidavits were analyzed, 170, or about 58 percent, face serious criminal cases. The comparable figure in 2021 was 113. In all, 190 MLAs, about 65 percent, face some form of criminal case.
ADR defined serious criminal cases as offenses carrying a maximum sentence of five years or more, or non-bailable offenses. They include murder, attempted murder, kidnapping, crimes against women, rape, corruption and offenses related to public funds.
The report said 14 MLAs face murder cases and 54 face charges of attempted murder. Another 63 MLAs face cases involving crimes against women, including two who face rape charges. In the party-by-party analysis of the 2026 assembly, 141 of the 206 BJP MLAs reviewed, or about 68 percent, face serious cases. Among the 80 MLAs of the Trinamool Congress, 25, or about 31 percent, face serious cases.
ADR also said all winning candidates of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the All India Secular Front and the Aam Janata Unnayan Party face serious cases. Both winning Congress MLAs face no criminal cases.
The wealth of the MLAs also drew attention. The report said 178 of the 292 MLAs declared assets of more than 1 crore rupees. The total declared wealth of all the MLAs stands at 1,091 crore rupees. The average wealth has risen to 3.7 crore rupees, from 2.5 crore rupees in 2021.
Party-wise averages also differ. Trinamool MLAs have average assets of 5.3 crore rupees and BJP MLAs an average of 2.9 crore. The two Congress MLAs have the highest average wealth, at 17.9 crore rupees.
The report named BJP leader Dilip Saha as the wealthiest individual MLA, with declared assets of more than 43 crore rupees. Another report cited Trinamool’s Zakir Hossain as having assets of more than 133 crore rupees.
An analysis of the 102 re-elected MLAs showed their average assets had grown by about 60 percent since 2021, ADR said. The average rose to 3.8 crore rupees from 2.3 crore in 2021.
Women’s representation also remained low. Only 37 of the 292 MLAs, or about 13 percent, are women. In the previous assembly, the figure was 14 percent.
On educational qualifications, ADR said 63 percent of the MLAs hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, while 32 percent have schooling between grades 5 and 12. One MLA declared himself illiterate.
The report has renewed questions about the state’s political culture and the transparency of elected representatives. Analysts said political parties needed to apply stricter standards when picking candidates and that voters needed to be more aware of nominees with criminal backgrounds in order to strengthen democracy.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report