NEW DELHI: Total of 23 or 72 per cent ministers have declared criminal cases against them in the newly constituted Bihar Cabinet.
An analysis by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) disclosed that there are 17 or 53 per cent ministers in Bihar Cabinet who have declared serious criminal cases against them. ADR has analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 32 out of 33 ministers including Chief Minister from Bihar State Assembly 2020. A nominated minister namely Ashok Chaudhary of JD (U) is not required to submit his affidavit, hence his information on criminal, financial and other details are not available in the public domain.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) tops the list of the political parties having maximum number of ministers with criminal charges against them. As per the report, 15 out of 17 ministers from RJD have declared criminal charges and 11 of them have declared serious criminal charges.
Similarly, four out of 11 ministers from JD (U) have declared criminal charges while three of them have serious criminal charges.
Congress has two ministers in Bihar Cabinet and both of them have declared criminal charges against them. The report said that one of the two have declared serious criminal charges. The ADR report said that out of the 32 ministers, 27 (84 per cent) ministers are crorepatis and the average asset of the 32 ministers analysed is Rs 5.82 crores.
As per the report, RJD tops the list with a maximum 16 out of 17 ministers from the party in Bihar. JD (U) is at second position with nine crorepati ministers out of 11.
The minister with the highest declared total assets is Samir Kumar Mahaseth (RJD) from Madhubani constituency with assets worth Rs. 24.45 crores. Analysis of educational background disclosed that 8 or 25 per cent ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th and 12th standard while 24 or 75 per cent ministers have declared having an educational qualification of a graduate or above. (IANS)
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