✶ Form 26 · Sworn affidavits
Who is
on the ballot.
Every candidate for Parliament or a state assembly must swear to their wealth, their education and any criminal cases pending against them. Search those declarations by constituency, party or name.
Lok Sabha 2024
93%
of winners declared assets of ₹1 crore or more. Among all 8,336 candidates the share was 31%.
Lok Sabha 2024
46%
of winners declared at least one pending criminal case; 31% declared a serious one.
Constituency
Loading candidates…
- Serious
- Other cases
- None declared
Across elections
Wealth and cases,
election by election.
| Election | Candidates | Crorepati | Any case | Serious case | Median assets | Winners: crorepati | Winners: any case |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lok Sabha 2024 | 8,336 | 31% | 20% | 14% | ₹31.6 lakh | 93% | 46% |
| Assam Assembly 2026 | 721 | 40% | 14% | 11% | ₹52.8 lakh | 85% | 17% |
| Kerala Assembly 2026 | 868 | 39% | 38% | 23% | ₹69.2 lakh | 69% | 84% |
| Puducherry Assembly 2026 | 291 | 41% | 23% | 13% | ₹53.1 lakh | 97% | 50% |
| Tamil Nadu Assembly 2026 | 3,993 | 25% | 18% | 10% | ₹21.8 lakh | 83% | 54% |
| West Bengal Assembly 2026 | 2,919 | 22% | 23% | 20% | ₹22.3 lakh | 61% | 65% |
By party · Lok Sabha 2024
| Party | Candidates | Median assets | Crorepati | With cases |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| IND Independent | 3,906 | ₹16.7 lakh | 17% | 14% |
| BSP Bahujan Samaj Party | 488 | ₹45.8 lakh | 33% | 13% |
| BJP Bharatiya Janata Party | 440 | ₹7.6 crore | 92% | 44% |
| INC Indian National Congress | 328 | ₹5.5 crore | 89% | 44% |
| Suci C | 149 | ₹11.7 lakh | 9% | 2% |
| Peoples Party Of India Democratic | 79 | ₹44.6 lakh | 29% | 15% |
| SP Samajwadi Party | 71 | ₹5.1 crore | 83% | 56% |
| CPI(M) Communist Party of India (Marxist) | 52 | ₹1.1 crore | 52% | 63% |
Methodology
How to read
an affidavit.
Where the numbers come from
Every candidate files a sworn affidavit in Form 26 with their nomination (Rule 4A, Conduct of Election Rules, 1961). It lists assets and liabilities of the candidate, spouse and dependants, educational qualifications, and pending criminal cases and past convictions. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch digitise these affidavits and publish summaries on MyNeta. We show their summaries and link to each one.
Self-declared, not audited
Figures are what candidates swore to. Returning officers check that the form is complete, not that the values are true. A false affidavit is an offence under section 125A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Assets are often declared at purchase price, not market value.
A case is not a conviction
“Criminal cases” means cases pending against the candidate in which a court has taken cognisance or framed charges, as the candidate declared them. Many candidates are never convicted. ADR counts a case as serious if, among other things, the offence carries a maximum sentence of five years or more, is non-bailable, is an electoral offence, or is a crime against women.
When conviction disqualifies
Under section 8 of the RPA 1951, conviction for listed offences, or any offence with a sentence of two years or more, disqualifies a person from contesting. In Lily Thomas v. Union of India (2013) the Supreme Court struck down section 8(4), which had let sitting legislators keep their seats while they appealed.
Publicity orders
In Public Interest Foundation v. Union of India (2018) the Supreme Court ordered candidates to declare their cases in bold letters and to publicise them in newspapers and on television at least three times. In Rambabu Singh Thakur v. Sunil Arora (2020) it ordered parties to publish, within 48 hours of choosing a candidate, the candidate's pending cases and the reasons for choosing them over someone without cases.
What “crorepati” means here
A candidate who declares total assets (movable plus immovable, including spouse and dependants) of ₹1 crore or more, that is ₹1,00,00,000. The median shown is of candidates who declared a figure.
Affidavit summaries: Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch, via MyNeta.info, compiled from affidavits filed with the Election Commission of India. Original affidavits: ECI affidavit portal. We republish summary figures only, with a link to each source.