West Bengal Assembly Elections: Criminal Candidates on the Rise

New Delhi, તા.23: The first phase of polling for the West Bengal Assembly elections is underway. However, according to the information released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) earlier, the number of candidates with criminal records has increased significantly in the Assembly elections this time compared to the 2021 elections. 23% of the 2920 candidates have criminal cases registered against them. Also, 192 candidates have criminal cases registered against them. According to ADR, out of the 294 constituencies in the current West Bengal Assembly elections, 129 (44%) fall under the red alert category. Red alert constituencies are those where three or more candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, 78% of the 27 constituencies had three or more candidates with criminal cases registered against them. Of the 2,920 candidates contesting this time, 683 (23%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. While 589% (20%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves, almost one out of the 192 (44%) candidates in the fray have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.