Telangana’s K Chandrashekar Rao has the highest number of criminal cases against him among incumbent CMs

With 37 serious cases out of 67 against him, Telangana’s K Chandrashekar Rao tops the list of CMs with criminal cases registered against them.

Forty-three percent of chief ministers have informed the Election Commission of India (ECI) that they have had criminal cases registered against them, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.

The Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) based the report on affidavits filed by the CMs with the Commission as part of the electoral process.

Out of 30 chief ministers, who are members of states' or union territories' assemblies, as many as 13 told the ECI that they are the subjects of criminal cases, including serious cases pertaining to charges such as murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, and criminal intimidation, among others.

With 37 serious cases out of 67 against him, Telangana’s K Chandrashekar Rao tops the list of CMs with criminal cases registered against them. He is followed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, who faces 10 serious criminal cases out of a total of 47.

If only serious criminal cases are considered, Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy is second on the list with 35 such cases against him.

Crorepati CMs

Twenty-nine out of the 30 chief ministers analysed by the report are crorepatis, or people worth more than Rs 1 crore. They have average assets worth Rs 33.96 crore.

Jagan Mohan Reddy is the richest Chief Minister in India, having declared assets worth Rs 510.38 crore. Arunachal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu, who is the second-highest on the list of the richest CMs, has declared assets worth Rs 163.51 crore.

With declared assets worth just Rs 15.38 lakh, Mamata Banerjee is the only non-crorepati among incumbent chief ministers. She is also the only woman Chief Minister in the country.

The report states that most chief ministers in the country fall in the age brackets of 51-60 and 60-70 years with both accounting for nine each. Four CMs have crossed the age of 70 years, and only eight are below 50 years of age.