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 on Monday. 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 1 billion.
The average assets of CMs are worth Rs 161.8 million. According to the report, Andhra Pradesh's Chandra Babu Naidu has emerged as the wealthiest chief minister with declared assets worth over Rs 177 crore, followed by Arunanchal Pradesh's Pema Khandu (over Rs 1.29 billion) and Amarinder Singh of Punjab (over Rs 480 million). 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 3 million) and Jammu and Kashmir's Mehbooba Mufti (Rs 5.6 million). In terms of educational qualification, 10 per cent of 31 chief ministers are 12th pass, 39 per cent graduate, 32 per cent graduate professional, 16 per cent post graduate and 3 per cent doctorate.