A report conducted by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) showed that, the 78 ministers in Modi’s Union cabinet following the reshuffle earlier this week, at least 42% have declared criminal cases against them. The report further suggests that among the four ministers have cases related to murder attempts.
Earlier, the PM allocated portfolios to the newly-inducted lawmakers shortly after their oath-taking ceremony earlier this week on Wednesday. A total of 15 ministers were inducted into the cabinet, while 28 lawmakers were given Union minister of state berths. Thereby, the total number of members in the Prime Minister’s council of ministers now stands at 78.
In an analysis of the Union council of ministers in the 17th Lok Sabha following its expansion, the ADR cited election affidavits to highlight 33 ministers (42%) in the new cabinet have declared criminal cases against them. Of these, 24 ministers (31% of the total number of members) have declared ‘serious’ criminal cases against them which includes counts of murder, attempt to murder, or robbery.
However, 90% of members of the new Union cabinet are millionaires. But they have declared total assets amounting to over ₹10 million. The report also showed that Jyotiraditya Scindia, Piyush Goyal, Narayan Rane and Rajeev Chandrasekhar have been categorised as ‘high asset ministers’,
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