23 Bihar Ministers Out Of 32 Have Criminal Cases: ADR Report

Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) ministers are ahead from others parties in the Bihar cabinet, tops with having maximum number of criminal charges against them, according to an analysis by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Bihar Election Watch.

While a total of 23 or 72 per cent of ministers have declared criminal cases against them in the newly constituted Bihar cabinet, there are 17 or 53 per cent ministers who have serious criminal cases against them, the ADR analysis revealed.

ADR has analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 32 out of 33 ministers, including the 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.

According to the report, every second minister in the new Grand Alliance government in Bihar faces a serious criminal case.

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 the Cabinet and both of them have declared criminal charges against them. The report said that one of the two has 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 also tops the list in asset declaration with a maximum 16 out of 17 ministers who are crorepati. 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 of ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th and 12th standard while 24 or 75 per cent of ministers have declared having an educational qualification of a graduate or above.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav also have cases registered against them.

ADR said a serious criminal case involves an offence for which the maximum punishment is a jail term of five years or more, or an offence that is non-bailable, or an electoral offence mentioned in Representation of the People Act, offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and crimes against women.

The lowest educational qualification is held by Deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav, who has studied up to class 8. His elder brother, Tej Pratap Yadav, has studied up to class 12.

There are seven ministers who have studied till class 12, seven are graduates, five are graduate professionals, 10 are post-graduates and two hold doctorate degrees.

Women Ministers: Out of 32 Ministers, 3 (9 per cent) are women.

Minister with Lowest Assets: The minister with the lowest declared total assets is Murari Prasad Gautam from Chenari (SC) constituency, with assets worth Rs 17.66 lakhs.

Liabilities: A total of 23 (72 per cent) ministers have declared liabilities, out of which the minister with the highest liabilities is Lalit Kumar Yadav of Darbhanga Rural constituency with Rs 2.35 crores of liabilities.

Ministers’ Age: A total of 17 (53 per cent) ministers have declared their age to be between 30-50 years while 15 (47 per cent) ministers have declared their age to be between 51-75 years.

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