At least 126 candidates who secured a victory in the April 23 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections have criminal cases pending against them, according to a report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Tamil Nadu Election Watch (TNEW) on Saturday (May 9, 2026), which analysed the criminal, financial, and educational backgrounds, the gender, and other details of the winning nominees. The Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) topped the list, with 41 MLAs-elect from the party declaring that they have criminal cases pending against them.

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The report by ADR and TNEW, which analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 233 of the 234 winning candidates in the 2026 Assembly election, said that at least 56 of those who won have declared that they have serious criminal cases against them. The report stated that TVK candidate T. Arunkumar was not analysed due to an unclear affidavit uploaded on the Election Commission of India (ECI) portal.

One of the winning candidates has declared that a case relating to murder (Section 302 of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code) was pending against him, while six other winning candidates have declared that attempt-to-murder cases (Section 307 of the erstwhile IPC) were pending against them, the report said. Two winning candidates have declared that cases relating to crimes against women were pending against them.

Party-wise figures

A party-wise analysis showed that criminal cases were pending against at least 41 MLAs-elect from the TVK, 37 from the DMK, 33 from the AIADMK, four from the PMK, three from the Congress, two each from the CPI(M) and the VCK, and one each from the AMMK, the CPI, the DMDK, and the IUML. The sole BJP MLA-elect declared that he did not have any criminal or serious criminal case pending against him.

Moreover, 19 MLAs-elect from the TVK, 14 each from the AIADMK and the DMK, two each from the Congress and the PMK, and one each from the AMMK, the CPI, the DMDK, the IUML, and the VCK have declared that serious criminal cases were pending against them.

Offences for which maximum punishment is five years or more; offences that are non-bailable and cognisable; electoral offences; offences relating to loss to the exchequer; offences that involve assault, murder, kidnap, or are related to rape; offences that are mentioned in Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act; offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act; and crimes against women and children fall under ‘serious criminal cases’.