New Delhi: Around 35% chief ministers in India have criminal cases against them and 81% of them are crorepatis, according to a report released on February 12.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have analyzed the self-sworn affidavits of current chief ministers (CMs) in state assemblies and Union territories across the nation.
These were the latest affidavits filed prior to their contesting the elections. The status of these cases may have since changed.
“Out of the all 31 chief ministers analyzed from state assemblies and Union territories, 11 (35%) chief ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves,” the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report noted.
Further, 26% CMs have declared serious criminal cases, including those related to murder, attempt to murder, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, criminal intimidation, among others.
As many as 25 CMs, or 81% , are crorepatis, with two of them having assets to the tune of over Rs 100 crore. The average assets of CMs are worth Rs 16.18 crore.
According to the report, Andhra Pradesh’s Chandrababu Naidu is the richest chief minister with declared assets worth over Rs 177 crore, followed by Arunanchal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu (over Rs 129 crore) and Amarinder Singh of Punjab (over Rs 48 crore).
The CM with the lowest declared asset is Tripura’s Manik Sarkar with assets worth Rs 27 lakh, followed by West Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee (over Rs 30 lakh) and Jammu and Kashmir’s Mehbooba Mufti (Rs 56 lakh).
In terms of educational qualification, 10% of 31 chief ministers are 12th pass, 39% graduate, 32% graduate professional, 16% post graduate and 3% have doctorates.
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