KOLKATA: The TMC's Jangipur candidate Jakir Hossain had, in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls, declared owning assets worth Rs 67 crore.
Five years later, his 2026 poll affidavit showed assets doubling to more than Rs 133 crore, making him one of the wealthiest candidates.
And he is not alone.
The BJP's Purulia MLA Sudip Kumar Mukherjee, who is seeking re-election from the same seat, saw an eye-watering 2,344 per cent rise in assets from Rs 45 lakh in 2021 to Rs 11 crore in 2026.
Several prominent candidates seeking reelection in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly polls have declared a sharp rise in assets, data compiled from their affidavits show.
Trinamool Congress' Krishna Kalyani, seeking re-election from Uttar Dinajpur district's Raiganj, saw his assets jump from around Rs 5.8 crore in 2021 to over Rs 20 crore in 2026, an increase of about 247 per cent.
His party colleague Manas Ranjan Bhunia, contesting from Paschim Medinipur district's Sabang, has more than doubled his assets to nearly Rs 15 crore.
In contrast, the Leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, reported a decline in his movable assets.
The 2026 poll affidavit of the BJP leader, seeking reelection from Nandigram and also locked in a tough fight with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her south Kolkata bastion of Bhabanipur, showed that his income has risen from about Rs 8.13 lakh in 2020-21 to nearly Rs 17.38 lakh in 2024-25.
However, his movable assets are valued at approximately Rs 24.57 lakh, a decline from Rs 59.31 lakh reported in 2021.
In some cases, the rise in assets has been steep in percentage terms.
The BJP's Sukumar Ray, contesting from Cooch Behar Uttar, saw his assets surge by over 300 per cent, while candidates such as the BJP's Chinmoy Deb Barman in the Tufanganj seat and the TMC's Baharampur candidate Subrata Maitra posted a rise in assets exceeding 150 per cent.
However, not all candidates reported an upward trajectory in the value of their assets.
Besides Adhikari, Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha candidate in Kalimpong, Ruden Sada Lepcha, TMC's Suti candidate Emani Biswas and the BJP's Moyna candidate, cricketer-turned-politician Ashoke Dinda, have declared a fall in the value of their assets compared to 2021.
The data, based on self-sworn affidavits submitted to the Election Commission, reflects the financial profiles of candidates contesting again in the April 23 first phase of polling.