India, March 17 -- Around 47 per cent of sitting MLAs in poll-bound West Bengal have declared criminal cases against them, while 37 per cent face serious criminal cases, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.

The assembly polls in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.

According to the report that analysed self-sworn affidavits of 291 out of 294 sitting MLAs, 136 (47 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves, while 109 (37 per cent) have declared serious criminal cases.

At least eight sitting MLAs have declared cases related to murder, 29 have declared cases related to attempt to murder, while 22 have declared cases related to crimes against...