NEW DELHI: In India, around 35 per cent chief ministers have criminal cases against them and 81 per cent of the total are crorepatis, according to an ADR report released on Monday.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of current chief ministers (CMs) in state assemblies and Union territories across the nation.
These were the latest affidavits filed by them prior to contesting the elections.
“Out of the all 31 chief ministers analysed from state assemblies and Union territories, 11 (35 per cent) chief ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves,” the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report noted.
Further, 26 per cent CMs have declared serious criminal cases, including related to murder, attempt to murder, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, criminal intimidation, among others.
Devendra Fadnavis, BJP: 22 cases
Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis tops the list with 22 cases registered against his name.
Pinarayi Vijayan, CPI (M): 11 cases
The Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of CPI (M) stands second with 11 criminal cases registered against his name.
Arvind Kejriwal, AAP: 10 cases
Delhi CM and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal comes third with 11 cases.
Raghubar Das, BJP: 8 cases
Jharkhand BJP’s Raghubar Das has 8 criminal cases against him.
Amarinder Singh, Congress: 4 cases
Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Sing of Congress has four cases against him. These include cheating and dishonestly with includes delivery of property, forgery, criminal breach of trust.
Yogi Adityanath, BJP: 4 cases
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has only four cases against him but all with serious charges that includes rioting, trespassing on burial places, defiling a place of worship with intent to insult, causing mischief by fire or explosive substance and criminal intimidation.
N Chandrababu Naidu, TDP: 3 cases
Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu has three criminal cases registered against him.
K Chandrashekar Rao, TRS: 2 cases
Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao has two criminal cases.
V Narayanasamy, Congress: 2 cases
Puducherry CM Narayanaswamy has only two cases against him.
Mehbooba Mufti, PDP: 1 case
Jammu and Kashmir CM Mehbooba Mufti the only female features on the criminal list has only one case of defamation registered against her name.
Nitish Kumar, JD (U): 1 case
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has one case registered against with serious charges under section 302 of the IPC.
Interestingly, as many as 25 Chief Ministers or 81 per cent, are crorepatis, with two of them having assets to the tune of over Rs 1 billion.
The average assets of CMs are worth Rs 161.8 million.
According to the report, Andhra Pradesh’s Chandra Babu Naidu has emerged as the wealthiest chief minister with declared assets worth over Rs 177 crore, followed by Arunanchal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu (over Rs 1.29 billion) and Amarinder Singh of Punjab (over Rs 480 million).
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 55 lakh).
In terms of educational qualification, 10 per cent of 31 chief ministers are 12th pass, 39 per cent graduate, 32 per cent graduate professional, 16 per cent post graduate and 3 per cent doctorate.
PTI inputs