New Delhi : Eight of the 21 new ministers in the Narendra Modi government have declared criminal cases, including that for attempt-to-murder, against them, said an NGO working for electoral reforms.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said in a release Monday that the total number of ministers with criminal cases in Modi government was 20 (31 percent).
The release said affidavits of 64 of 66 ministers (including the prime minister) had been analysed and details of union Ministers Suresh Prabhu and Birendra Singh had not been scrutinised as they were not yet members of either house.
“In total, 11 (17 percent) ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to attempt to murder, communal disharmony, electoral violations,” the release said.
“Ramshankar Katheria from Agra constituency has declared a case related to attempt to murder. Among the rest of the ministers, Uma Bharti from Jhansi of BJP had also declared a case related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307),” the release added.
The release said that among the newly inducted ministers, Y.S. Chowdary, Rajya Sabha member from Andhra Pradesh belonging to Telugu Desam Party had declared the highest total assets of Rs. 189.69 crore followed by Jayant Sinha (BJP) from Hazaribagh with assets worth Rs. 55.67 crore and Mahesh Sharma (BJP) from Gautam Budhha Nagar with total assets worth Rs. 47.37 crore.
The average assets size of the newly inducted ministers is Rs. 18.48 crore. In totality, the average assets size per minister is Rs.14.25 crore, the release added.