Asset Declarations · ECI Affidavits · 2021 vs 2026 · Source: ADR India / ECI সম্পদ ঘোষণা · ইসিআই হলফনামা · ২০২১ বনাম ২০২৬ · উৎস: এডিআর ইন্ডিয়া

MLA Wealth Growth

What They Declared Before. What They Declare Now. The Gap in Between. আগে কী ঘোষণা করেছিলেন। এখন কী ঘোষণা করছেন। মাঝখানে ফারাক।

Source: ECI nomination affidavits, 2021 & 2026 · ADR India analysis Comparison: two successive Bengal assembly elections Updated: May 2026

A Bengal MLA earns about ₹40 lakh over five years.

That's the maximum a legislator can legitimately accumulate from their official salary, allowances, and per-diem over a full term — being generous. Any declared asset growth significantly above this number demands a public explanation.

MLAs are not prohibited from other income — farming, business, investments. But they must declare all sources. The gap between salary and asset growth is the most reliable public signal of unexplained enrichment.

Basic salary (₹10,000/mo × 60) ₹6 lakh
Constituency allowance (₹20,000/mo × 60) ₹12 lakh
Secretarial + office allowance ₹9 lakh
Daily allowance (session days, est.) ₹4 lakh
Travel + other allowances (est.) ₹4 lakh
Other legitimate income (farming, rent, dividends — generous est.) ₹5 lakh
Total legitimate 5-year accumulation ≈ ₹40 lakh

Growth above ₹40 lakh is not automatically corrupt — but it requires a declared explanation. Growth above ₹1 crore with no declared business income is a serious red flag. This tracker flags those cases.

The Pattern

How Fast Do Legislators Get Rich?

India's Election Commission requires every candidate to declare total assets in a sworn affidavit at nomination. Comparing affidavits from 2021 and 2026 reveals who got richer, by how much, and whether the growth is explicable on a legislator's salary.

Nationally, ADR India's analysis of successive elections consistently finds that winning candidates' declared assets grow by an average of 100–200% between terms — far exceeding what salary alone explains. Bengal's record is no exception. The cases below are drawn from affidavits published on the ECI portal and analysed by ADR India.

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MLAs with both-year data
2021 & 2026 affidavits compared
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Extreme growth (>500%)
Growth far beyond salary
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High growth (100–500%)
Demands explanation
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Average growth (tracked MLAs)
Of declared total assets
How Much Growth Is Above Salary?
TOP 20 BY ABSOLUTE GROWTH · SALARY BASELINE = ₹40 LAKH OVER 5 YEARS · DOTTED LINE = LEGITIMATE LIMIT
Within salary range (≤ ₹40L growth)
Above salary baseline (₹40L–₹1cr)
Far above baseline (> ₹1cr above salary)
₹40 lakh salary limit
Each bar shows total declared growth (2026 − 2021 assets). The first ₹40 lakh of growth is shaded green — this is within what a legislator's salary can explain. Everything beyond the dotted line is growth the affidavit must explain through declared business income, inheritance, or investment returns. Absence of such declaration is a red flag for public scrutiny.
Spotlight Cases

The Most Striking Declarations

These cases combine affidavit data with documented investigative findings — seizures, court records, and ED chargesheets — to give the fullest picture of unexplained asset accumulation among Bengal's political class.

Party Averages

Wealth by Party

Average declared assets of winning MLAs from each party, 2021 and 2026, based on ADR India aggregate analysis of ECI affidavit data.

📌 What the averages hide

Party averages are pulled upward by a small number of extremely wealthy MLAs — often ministers, industrialists, or those under investigation. The median MLA declares significantly less than the average. The distribution matters as much as the mean: a party with one ₹50 crore MLA and nineteen ₹1 crore MLAs has the same average as a party where all twenty declare ₹3.8 crore.

Full Table

2021 → 2026 Asset Comparison

All MLAs for whom both 2021 and 2026 affidavit data has been confirmed are listed below. Rows marked pending in the 2021 column are being cross-checked against the ECI portal — data is added as verified. Click any column header to sort.

⚖ Legal Note

Declared assets are self-reported, sworn figures. Discrepancy between declared and actual assets is itself a legal offence under Section 125A of the Representation of the People Act. High declared growth is not proof of corruption — it may reflect legitimate investment returns, inheritance, or business income. It is, however, a flag for public scrutiny and media investigation.

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# MLA Name Constituency Party 2021 Assets 2026 Assets Growth (₹) Growth (%) Flag Note
Look Up Any MLA Yourself

The Data Is Public. Here's How to Find It.

The Election Commission publishes every candidate's full affidavit online. ADR India cross-references them and makes them searchable. You do not need to wait for this tracker — you can verify any MLA's declared assets yourself in under two minutes.

Step-by-step: look up any Bengal MLA's affidavit

  1. Go to myneta.info (ADR India's candidate database). It covers all Indian elections back to 2004.
  2. Search by name or select West Bengal → 2026 Assembly Election → your constituency. The winning candidate's affidavit summary appears instantly.
  3. Click "View Detail" to see total assets (movable + immovable), liabilities, criminal cases, and educational qualification — all self-declared.
  4. For the 2021 affidavit of the same person, search again under West Bengal → 2021 Assembly Election. Subtract the two totals to find the 5-year declared growth.
  5. Compare the growth against the ₹40 lakh legitimate salary estimate above. If it's significantly higher and no business income is declared, that's a story worth asking about.

Data Sources & Methodology

Asset figures: Self-declared total assets (movable + immovable, at declared market value) from ECI nomination affidavits. Both 2021 and 2026 figures come from the ECI Affidavit Disclosure portal and the ADR India MyNeta database.

Growth calculation: Simple delta: 2026 assets minus 2021 assets. Percentage growth: (delta / 2021 assets) × 100. Where 2021 assets are very small, percentage growth can be misleadingly large — absolute figures matter more in those cases.

Flag thresholds: Extreme = growth above 500% or above ₹5 crore absolute. High = 100–500% growth or ₹1–5 crore absolute. Moderate = 50–100%. Normal = under 50%. These are screening thresholds for public scrutiny, not legal determinations.

Salary baseline: ₹40 lakh over 5 years is a generous estimate including salary, constituency allowance, secretarial allowance, and per-diem for session days. MLAs with declared business income, rental income, or investment returns may legitimately exceed this — all such income must be declared in the affidavit itself.

Pending data: Rows marked "pending" for 2021 are being compiled from ECI records. MLAs who did not contest in 2021, or who contested from different constituencies, are noted separately. Data is added as it is verified against the ECI portal.

To update this table: Edit the ASSET_DATA[] array in the <script> tag. Set verified2021:true once a figure is confirmed. The table re-renders automatically.

Asset data updates as new affidavit comparisons are verified from ECI records