‘72% min face criminal cases’
About 72 per cent of the ministers in the new Grand Alliance government in Bihar are facing criminal cases, according to a report of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Election Watch released on Wednesday.
Chief minister Nitish Kumar and deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav also have cases registered against them.
Of the 32 ministers whose criminal, financial and educational details, as furnished in their election affidavits, were analysed by the ADR, 23 (about 72%) have criminal cases pending against them.
The self-sworn affidavits of these ministers and other details were analysed after the cabinet reconstitution on Tuesday.
Minister Ashok Chaudhary, being a nominated member of the Legislative Council, was not required to submit his election affidavit and hence information on his criminal, financial and other details are not available in the public domain.
As per the affidavits analysed, 17 (53%) ministers face serious criminal cases against them.
Party-wise, out of RJD’s 17 ministers, 15 (88%) have declared criminal cases while 11 (65%) have serious criminal cases against them.
In comparison, only four (36)% of the 11 ministers from chief minister Nitish Kumar’s party JD(U) have criminal cases against them while 3 (27%) have self-declared serious criminal cases against them.
Both Congress ministers have criminal cases and one of them is facing serious criminal charges. A serious criminal case involves an offence for which the maximum punishment is of five years or more if imprisonment, or an offence that is nonbailable, or an electoral offence mentioned in Representation of the People Act, offences under Prevention of Corruption Act and crimes against women.
In comparison, the previous NDA government headed by Nitish Kumar had 18 out of 31 ministers having criminal cases registered against them, as per the ADR and Election Watch report based on affidavits of 28 of them. As many as 14 of the ministers faced serious criminal cases.
Educational qualification
Of the 32 ministers whose records were analysed, eight (25%) have declared their educational qualifications to be between class 8 and 12 while 24 (75%) ministers have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above.
The lowest educational qualification is held by deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, who has declared his education as that of class 8. His elder brother, Tej Pratap Yadav, has studied up to class 12th.
There are seven ministers who have taken education till class 12, seven are graduates, five are graduate professionals, 10 are post-graduates and two hold doctorate degrees
CM NITISH KUMAR AND DEPUTY CHIEF MINISTER TEJASHWI YADAV ALSO HAVE CASES REGISTERED AGAINST THEM
Average assets
The average assets of the 32 ministers analysed is Rs 5.82 crore. Out of 17 RJD ministers, 16 (94%) are crorepatis, whereas 9 out of 11 JD (U) ministers (82%) are crorepatis.
The minister with the highest declared total assets is Samir Kumar Mahaseth (RJD) from Madhubani constituency, who is worth Rs. 24.45 crore.
Murari Prasad Gautam (Congress), the MLA from Chenari (SC) constituency, has the lowest assets, worth Rs. 17.66 lakh.
A total of 17(53%) ministers have declared their age to be between 30-50 years while 15 (47%) ministers have declared their age to be between 51- 75 years.