Mamata Banerjee vs Suvendu Adhikari: LoP ahead of CM in assets, number of police cases

In Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency, Mamata Banerjee faces Suvendu Adhikari, whose affidavit shows higher assets and multiple cases, while Banerjee reports minimal assets and no criminal charges ahead of a high-stakes electoral battle

Kolkata: As Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency in South Kolkata is heading for the most high-profile electoral contest in West Bengal later this month, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, pitted against each other, respective affidavits of the two candidates filed along with their nominations show that Adhikari is way ahead of Mamata Banerjee both in terms of assets and cases filed against him.

As per the affidavit filed along with her nomination on Wednesday, the Chief Minister owns a total immovable property worth Rs 15.37 lakh and at the same time does not own any moveable property.

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At the same time, she also does not have any liabilities or loans to be repaid.

On the other hand, as per the affidavit filed by LoP Adhikari, while he has Rs 12,000 as cash-on-hand, he owns immovable property worth Rs 61.30 lakh and movable property worth Rs 24.57 lakh.

During the last five years, the total assets of the LoP have witnessed a decline of Rs 34.74 lakh. At the same time, as expected, the Chief Minister does not have a single criminal case registered against her at any police station in the state; Adhikari has witnessed a significant rise in the number of criminal cases registered against him during the last five years.

In 2021, when Adhikari contested from Nandigram Assembly constituency in East Midnapore district, there was not a single criminal case registered against him at any police station in the state. However, as per the latest affidavit filed along with his nomination this year, there are a total of 29 registered criminal cases against him at different police stations, both in the state capital of Kolkata and different districts in the state.

Adhikari, this time, is contesting simultaneously from Bhabanipur and Nandigram. He had been a two-time MLA from Nandigram, first for Trinamool Congress from 2016 to 2021 and then for the BJP from 2021 to date.

In 2021, he was elected from Nandigram, defeating Mamata Banerjee by a margin of a little less than 2,000 votes.

Later, she got elected from Bhabanipur in a by-election and retained her chair as the Chief Minister for the third consecutive term. While Nandigram is going for polls in the first phase on April 23, the polling for Bhabanipur will be in the second phase on April 29. The results will be declared on May 4.