New Delhi: More than 30% of the ministers, in the enlarged council of ministers, have criminal cases pending against them while nearly all are crorepatis, according to analysis by Association for Democratic Reforms.
About 24 of the 78 have declared criminal cases while 14 (18%) have serious criminal cases like rape, attempt to murder, communal disharmony, electoral violations against them.
Out of the 78 ministers, 72 (92%) are crorepatis with the average assets of the newly inducted ministers at Rs. 8.73 crore. In all, the average assets per minister is Rs.12.94 crore.
Among the newly inducted ministers, M J Akbar, Rajya Sabha member from Madhya Pradesh declared the highest total assets of Rs. 44.90 crore followed by P P Choudhary from Pali constituency with assets worth Rs. 35.35 crore and Vijay Goel, Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan with total assets worth Rs. 29.97 crore.
Among the council of ministers, Arun Jaitley, Harsimrat Badal and Piyush Goel are ministers with the highest assets. The ADR analysis is based on declaration of election affidavits by the candidates.
Among newly inducted ministers analysed, new environment minister Anil Madhav Dave, declared the lowest total assets of Rs 60.97 lakhs. A total of six ministers out of 78 had declared assets less than Rs 1 crore.
