CM Yadav and deputy chief ministers Rajendra Shukla, Jagdish Devda are crorepatis
More than one-third of the ministers in the Mohan Yadav cabinet in Madhya Pradesh have criminal records, with 12 out of 31 declaring cases in their election affidavits.
Three of the ministers have declared serious criminal cases, an analysis by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Madhya Pradesh Election Watch has revealed.
Among the ministers with serious criminal cases is Kailash Vijayvarigya who faces five cases with four charges of serious nature. These include two charges related to ‘deliberate and malicious acts, intending to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs' (Section 295A of IPC) and two charges related to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race etc. (Section 153A of IPC). These cases were registered against Vijayvargiya in West Bengal when he was BJP in-charge of the state.
The other newly appointed minister with serious criminal charges is Dilip Jaiswal who faces five charges related to forgery and cheating (Sections 467, 468, 409, 413 and 430 of IPC). Inder Singh Parmar faces two criminal cases with one serious charge of attempt to murder (Section 307 of IPC).
Rich ministers
Out of the 31 ministers, including CM Yadav and deputy chief ministers Rajendra Shukla and Jagdish Devda, 30 (97 per cent) are crorepatis, meaning they own assets worth over Rs 1 crore. The average assets of 31 ministers analysed is Rs 18.54 crore.
The minister with the highest declared total assets is Chetanya Kumar Kashyap from Ratlam City constituency with assets worth Rs. 296.08 crore, while, the minister with the lowest declared total assets is Gotam Tetwal from Sarangpur (SC) constituency with assets worth Rs. 89.64 lakh.
Also, 25 ministers have declared liabilities out of which the minister with the highest liabilities is again Kashyap with Rs. 20.17 crore in liabilities.
84 pc ministers over the age of 50
The analysis shows that in all, eight (26 per cent) ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th pass and 12th pass, while 23 (74 per cent) ministers have declared having an educational qualification of graduation and above. CM Yadav has a doctoral degree while Aidal Singh Kansana from Sumawali is 8th pass.
Only five (16 per cent) ministers have declared their age to be between 31 and 50 years while 26 (84 per cent) ministers have declared their age to be between 51 and 70 years. Of these, 13 ministers are over 60 years of age. The oldest minister is Karan Singh Verma at 68, while the youngest is Pratima Bagri at 31 years of age.