Bengal polls: TMC has most crorepati candidates, BJP second

The ruling party also has the highest no. of candidates with criminal cases, followed by the BJP.

There are about 244 crorepatis out of 1,961 candidates contesting the ongoing West Bengal assembly elections, with the ruling Trinamool Congress leading the list at 114, a survey said.

‘Out of 1,961 candidates contesting in this year’s elections, 244 candidates are crorepatis,’ an analysis conducted by the West Bengal Election Watch and Association of Democratic Reforms said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party is second on the list with 46 crorepati candidates, while the Congress has 31, the Communist Party of India-Marxist 13, the Bahujan Samaj Party 4, the Revolutionary Socialist Party and All India Forward Bloc share two each and 11 other political outfits, including the Rashtriya Janata Dal, have one crorepati candidates each, the survey said.

Out of the Independents contesting, 19 are crorepatis.

Among the 1,961 candidates, 81 out of the 245 sitting members of the legislative assembly are re-contesting in this year’s elections and are crorepatis, it stated.

‘The growth is about 112 per cent. In 2011, the average assets of those 245 MLAs were Rs 60.11 lakh, while it rose to Rs 1.27 crore in 2016,’ the analysis said.

In fact, among the highest growth of assets in top three sitting MLAs who are contesting is that of state Minister for Disaster Management, Javeb Khan.

‘The growth of the Kasba MLA’s asset was around 598 per cent. In 2011 his total assets valued to Rs 2.16 crore, which rose to Rs 17.29 crore in 2016,’ the survey read.

Khan was followed by fellow party MLA Saumen Kumar Mahapatra and Amit Mitra whose assets rose by around 344 and 66 per cent respectively, it said.

While Mahapatra, the state water investigation and development minister, had a total asset of Rs 1.76 crore in 2011, it increased to Rs 7.83 crore in 2016.

‘In case of Finance Minister Amit Mitra, it was Rs 7.08 crore in 2011, which is Rs 11.74 crore in 2016,’ the analysis said.

The ruling party also has the candidate with the highest assets.

TMC MLA Asima Patra of Dhaniakhali constituency recorded the highest jump in assets value from 2011 to 2016 in terms of percentage with 3,185 per cent.

TMC’s Samir Chakraborty of Taldangra constituency in Bankura district has total assets of Rs 405,923,000 followed by BJP’s Somabrata Mandal of Shyampukur constituency, who is second on the list with an asset value of Rs 286,520,287, the analysis stated.

The TMC also has the highest number of 86 candidates out of the 354 who have declared criminal cases. There 66 candidates from the BJP, 58 from the CPI-M and 41 from the Congress.

And, of the 294 candidates declared with serious criminal cases, 76 were from the TMC, 52 from the BJP, 47 from the CPI-M and 31 from the Congress, the analysis said, adding, 24 among the 1,961 were booked with murder cases.