A report released on Monday has claimed that around 35% chief ministers in India have criminal cases against them and 81% of them are crorepatis.
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.
According to the report, Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, is the richest chief minister, while Tripura’s CM Manik Sarkar is India’s poorest chief minister with the lowest declared assets worth Rs 27 lakh. Naidu has declared assets worth over Rs 177 crore.
Naidu is followed by Arunanchal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu (over Rs 129 crore) and Amarinder Singh of Punjab (over Rs 48 crore) in the list of richest CMs.
Talking about the criminal cases against the CMs, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report noted, “Out of the all 31 chief ministers analysed from state assemblies and Union territories, 11 (35%) chief ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves.”
As many as 25 CMs, or 81% , are crorepatis, with two of them having assets to the tune of over Rs 100 crore. The average assets of CMs are worth Rs 16.18 crore.
In terms of educational qualification, 10% of 31 chief ministers are 12th pass, 39% graduate, 32% graduate professional, 16% post graduate and 3% have doctorates.
A few days ago a report had surfaced which also claimed that Marxist leader Manik Sarkar is India’s poorest CM with Rs 2,410 in a bank account.
Tripura CM donates his entire salary of Rs 26,315 to the CPI(M) fund and in turn, he receives a monthly allowance of Rs 9,700 from the party for his livelihood. He jointly owns about 0.0118 acres of land in Krishnanagar with his sister. He doesn’t own a personal car, home, or any other asset.
(With agency inputs)