Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari faces 25 criminal cases, most of them filed since he defected from the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) party in 2020, while his annual income has more than doubled over the past five years from $8,13,170 in 2020-2021 to $17,38,590 in 2024-25, according to the affidavit he submitted to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday.
The value of Adhikari’s movable and immovable assets has declined over the past five years, the affidavit shows. He had valuable movable assets $59,31,647 in 2021, reduced to 24,57,600 in 2026. The value of his immovable assets was 61,30,000 in 2021, reduced to 46,21,102 in 2026.
The BJP has nominated Adhikari from Nandigram (East Midnapore), which will go to the polls in the first phase of the West Bengal elections on April 23, and Bhabanipur (Kolkata), where elections are scheduled to be held in the second phase on April 29, against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Adhikari, who filed his nomination from Nandigram on Monday, defeated Banerjee there in 2021.
Adhikari’s affidavit for the 2021 poll showed only one criminal case pending against him relating to the 2016 Narada News portal videos that allegedly showed him receiving money for services to a shell company ahead of the Assembly elections that year.
Adhikari joined the BJP in December 2020 ahead of the 2021 Lok Sabha elections. The cases against him since then include cases on charges ranging from criminal intimidation, attempt to murder, hurting religious sentiments, rioting, promoting enmity between groups, making objectionable and communal remarks, and unlawful restraint.
In December 2022, the Calcutta High Court granted protection to Adhikari, barring the state from filing any cases against him without its prior approval. The Supreme Court in October 2025 quashed 15 cases against Adhikari even after quashing the interim order barring registration of new cases against him without the court’s permission.
Adhikari did not return calls and messages seeking comment.
BJP leader Tarunjyoti Tiwari said that the TMC government fears any kind of opposition. “Whenever there is opposition, false cases are registered. Adhikari also faced the same. Multiple cases have been filed against our leaders and workers, starting from a booth level worker to the leader of the opposition,” he said. [Adhikari]just to scare them. “This is the policy that TMC believes in,” Tiwari said.
TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said that if one of them is associated with criminals, it is clear that the number of criminal cases will rise significantly. “This is a natural reflex.”
