Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said he didn’t mind topping the list of CMs with most criminal cases as the majority of charges against him were political in nature and slapped on him in the course of his activism against the corrupt practices of previous governments.

“Yes, I had the maximum number of cases but all of them were political in nature. They were part of my activism against the [previous] governments,” he said, adding there were “no more” cases pending against him in any court in the state.

The Association for Democratic Reform this week released a report featuring India’s 31 Chief Ministers, with Mr. Fadnavis shown having the highest number of criminal cases, 22, as well as three “serious criminal cases,” registered against him. The charges include “abetment of such assault, if the assault is committed”, “voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means,” “being part of an unlawful assembly, rioting, voluntarily causing hurt and wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent.”

Non-serious cases

Of the non-serious cases against Mr. Fadnavis, most are registered under Sections 143, 147 and 148 of the IPC, all related to unlawful assembly, rioting, etc. “There is a single case related to Section 324 of IPC for ‘voluntary causing hurt by dangerous weapons,’ the ADR report said.

“I am not denying I had maximum cases, but none of these were related to corruption and moral turpitude,” he told The Hindu.

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and J&K Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti have only one case each against their name. After Mr. Fadnavis, the Chief Ministers who have most cases against them are of Delhi and Kerala: 14 and 11 respectively.