According to a report by ADR, a group working on electoral reforms, 42 per cent of the 78 ministers in the Modi cabinet have declared criminal cases against them, of which four have cases of attempt to murder. On Wednesday, 15 new cabinet ministers and 28 ministers of state were sworn in. After which the total number of members of the Council of Ministers has increased to 78.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), citing election affidavits, said that 33 (42 per cent) of all these ministers analyzed have mentioned criminal cases against themselves. About 24 or 31 per cent of ministers have declared serious criminal cases which include cases related to murder, attempt to murder, dacoity etc.
Nisith Pramanik, who became the Minister of State for Home from Cooch Behar Constituency, has himself declared a case related to murder (IPC Section-302) against himself. Nisith is also the youngest minister in the cabinet at 35. Four ministers have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307). These include John Barla, Pramanik, Pankaj Choudhary and V Muraledahran.
Further, analysis of ministers revealed that 70 (90 per cent) are crorepatis and the average assets per minister is Rs 16.24 crore. Four ministers have declared assets worth Rs 50 crore. They are Jyotiraditya Scindia, Piyush Goyal, Narayan Tatu Rane and Rajiv Chandrashekhar.
