In India, around 35 per cent chief ministers have criminal cases against them and 81 per cent of the total are crorepatis, according to an ADR report released today.
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.
These were the latest affidavits filed by them prior to contesting the elections.
"Out of the all 31 chief ministers analysed from state assemblies and Union territories, 11 (35 per cent) chief ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves," the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) report noted.
Further, 26 per cent CMs have declared serious criminal cases, including related to murder, attempt to murder, cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property, criminal intimidation, among others.
Interestingly, as many as 25 CMs, or 81 per cent, 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.
The CM with the lowest declared asset is Tripura's Manik Sarkar with assets worth Rs 27 lakh, followed by West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee (over Rs 30 lakh) and Jammu and Kashmir's Mehbooba Mufti (Rs 56 lakh).