More than three-fourth of the ministers in Bihar's new government have criminal cases against them, higher than what it was in the previous Grand Alliance cabinet, a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) stated.

According to the report, as many as 22 ministers out of 29 in the present government have criminal cases against them. In the Grand Alliance cabinet, 19 out of a total of 28 ministers had cases registered against them.

The Grand Alliance government collapsed last week after chief minister Nitish Kumar resigned over the land-for-hotels FIR lodged against his then deputy Tejashwi Yadav.

The report was prepared after an analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of the 29 ministers, including the chief minister, by the Bihar Election Watch and ADR.

It stated that of the 22 ministers, nine have declared they have serious criminal cases against them. While nine ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between classes VIII and XII-pass, 18 are graduates or have higher degrees.

Also, there is only one woman minister now compared to two earlier.

However, the number of crorepatis in the new Nitish cabinet has come down marginally to 21 from 22 in the previous one. The average assets of the 29 ministers is Rs 2.46 crore, the report said.