A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Kerala Election Watch has revealed that 18 of the 20 Kerala ministers analysed have declared criminal cases , while 15 members of the new Cabinet are crorepatis , drawing fresh attention to the criminalisation of politics and concentration of wealth in public office.

The findings are based on the self-sworn affidavits of 20 out of 21 ministers in the newly sworn-in Congress-led United Democratic Front government headed by Chief Minister V D Satheesan. The UDF returned to power in Kerala after a gap of 10 years.

According to the report, 90 per cent of the ministers analysed face criminal cases , while 14 ministers, or 70 per cent, have declared serious criminal charges in their affidavits. The affidavit of minister C P John was not included in the analysis because the uploaded document on the Election Commission website was unclear at the time the report was prepared.

The report stated that 75 per cent of the ministers are crorepatis , with the average declared assets standing at Rs 6.32 crore . Among the Cabinet members, Shibu Baby John declared the highest assets at around Rs 24.63 crore, while O J Janeesh reported the lowest assets at Rs 57.08 lakh.

Additional disclosures compiled by various media outlets showed several senior ministers possessing even larger personal wealth. Ramesh Chennithala reportedly declared assets nearing Rs 28 crore, while K Muraleedharan and Anoop Jacob each disclosed assets of more than Rs 21 crore.

The ADR analysis also examined the educational and demographic profile of the ministry. It found that three ministers have educational qualifications between Class 10 and Class 12, while 17 ministers hold graduate-level qualifications or above . Six ministers are aged between 31 and 50 years, while 14 fall in the 51-80 age group.

The report further highlighted the low representation of women in the Cabinet , with only two women ministers in the 21-member ministry, accounting for roughly 10 per cent of its total strength.

The findings have triggered renewed political debate because a separate ADR analysis released earlier this year found that nearly 70 per cent of Kerala’s sitting MLAs have criminal cases against them, while more than half are crorepatis. The earlier study also showed a rise in candidates with serious criminal cases in the 2026 Assembly elections.