A new report released by the Association for Democratic Reforms has revealed the financial, criminal, educational and personal details of all 31 Chief Ministers in India, whose analysis is based on the self-sworn election affidavits submitted by the Chief Ministers during their most recent Assembly elections and obtained from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
According to the report, nearly half of India's Chief Ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves, while the average assets of a Chief Minister stand at more than Rs 118 crore.
The report analysed the affidavits of all 31 current Chief Ministers, including those from 28 states and three Union Territories and the findings are based entirely on information declared by the Chief Ministers themselves in their election nomination affidavits, the ADR stated that the report examines financial details, criminal cases, educational qualifications, profession, age and other information available in these affidavits.
One of the major findings of the report is that 14 out of 31 Chief Ministers, or 45%, have declared criminal cases against themselves and among them, 11 Chief Ministers (35%) have declared serious criminal cases. The report also states that two Chief Ministers have declared cases related to attempt to murder (IPC Section 307).
Among all the Chief Ministers, Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy has declared the highest number of criminal cases with 89 cases, while West Bengal's Suvendu Adhikari has declared 29 criminal cases and the report further mentions that these cases include multiple charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), as declared in their affidavits.
The report shows that the average assets of a Chief Minister are Rs 118.07 crore and the combined assets declared by all 31 Chief Ministers stand at Rs 3,660 crore. The report also states that the total declared annual self income of all Chief Ministers is Rs 203 crore, while the average annual self income is Rs 6.54 crore.
According to ADR, four Chief Ministers have declared assets worth more than Rs 100 crore, making them billionaire Chief Ministers and the richest among them is Karnataka Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar, who has declared assets worth Rs 1,413.80 crore.
He is followed by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu with assets worth Rs 931.83 crore, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay with assets worth Rs 648.85 crore and Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu with assets worth Rs 332.56 crore.
These four are the only billionaire Chief Ministers listed in the report.
The report also lists the Chief Ministers with the lowest declared assets. Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has declared assets worth Rs 55.24 lakh, making him the Chief Minister with the lowest declared assets.
He is followed by West Bengal's Suvendu Adhikari with assets worth Rs 85.87 lakh and Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma with assets worth Rs 1.46 crore.
Apart from being the richest Chief Minister, D.K. Shivakumar has also declared the highest liabilities and according to the report, his liabilities stand at Rs 265.06 crore, while the next highest liabilities are: Pema Khandu with Rs 180.27 crore, Himanta Biswa Sarma with Rs 16.86 crore, while overall, 11 Chief Ministers have declared liabilities of more than Rs 1 crore.
The report divides the Chief Ministers into different wealth categories.
4 Chief Ministers (13%) have assets of Rs 50 crore and above.
10 Chief Ministers (32%) have assets between Rs 11 crore and Rs 49 crore.
15 Chief Ministers (48%) have assets between Rs 1 crore and Rs 10 crore.
2 Chief Ministers (7%) have assets of less than Rs 1 crore.
The report also includes details of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and according to his election affidavit:
Declared assets: Rs 1.97 crore
Declared liabilities: Rs 30.35 lakh
Annual self income: Rs 18.34 lakh
Education: 12th Pass
Profession: Politician
The educational qualifications of the 31 Chief Ministers vary and according to the report:
9 are Post Graduates
7 are Graduates
6 are Graduate Professionals
3 are 12th Pass
3 hold Doctorate degrees
2 are 10th Pass
1 holds a Diploma
The report shows that 30 of the 31 Chief Ministers are men, accounting for 97% of the total and there is only one woman Chief Minister, Rekha Gupta, who serves as the Chief Minister of Delhi. She represents 3% of the total number of Chief Ministers analysed.
The report also provides the age distribution of the Chief Ministers.
8 Chief Ministers are between 41 and 50 years.
17 Chief Ministers are between 51 and 60 years.
2 Chief Ministers are between 61 and 70 years.
4 Chief Ministers are between 71 and 80 years.
ADR said the report is based on the self-sworn affidavits filed by all 31 current Chief Ministers during their latest Assembly elections and these affidavits were obtained from the Election Commission of India.