Nearly 42 per cent ministers declared criminal cases against them: ADR

New Delhi, July 09: Of the 78 ministers in the Cabinet, 42 per cent have declared criminal cases against them with four having cases related to attempt to murder, according to a report by poll rights group ADR.

As many as 15 new cabinet ministers and 28 ministers of state were sworn in on Wednesday, taking the strength of the council of ministers to 78. Of all the ministers analysed, 33 (42 per cent) have declared criminal cases against themselves, said the Association for Democratic Reforms report citing their poll affidavits.

About 24 or 31 per cent ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, robbery etc. Nisith Pramanik from Cooch Behar constituency who has been appointed as the Minister of State for Home Affairs has declared a case related to murder (IPC Section-302) against himself.

At 35, he is also the youngest minister in the Cabinet. Four ministers have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307). They are - John Barla, Pramanik, Pankaj Choudhary and V Muraleedharan Out of the ministers analysed, 70 (90 per cent) are crorepatis and the average assets per minister is Rs.16.24 crore.

Four ministers have declared more than Rs 50 crore worth of assets. They are Jyotiraditya Scindia, Piyush Goyal, Narayan Tatu Rane and Rajeev Chandrasekhar.