In the midst of a controversy, Bihar’s Education Minister Mewa Lal Choudhary, the richest Minister in the Nitish Kumar Government Cabinet with assets worth Rs 12.31 crore, has himself declared one criminal case and four serious cases against him.
Besides Choudhary, animal husbandry and fisheries minister Mukesh Sahni has declared five criminal cases and three cases of serious nature under the IPC. BJP’s Jibesh Kumar has also declared five criminal cases and four cases of serious nature under the IPC. There are five others who have self-declared criminal cases of varying nature against them.
According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), six (43 per cent) of the ministers have declared serious criminal cases against themselves, according to the ADR. Serious criminal cases are non-bailable offences with over five years of imprisonment. Eight or 57 per cent of the ministers face criminal cases, it said. The ADR said that affidavits of two out of six ministers analysed from the JD(U), four out of six ministers analysed from the BJP, one minister analysed from the Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) and one from the Vikassheel Insaan Party show criminal cases against them.
As many as 13 (93 per cent) ministers are crorepatis with their average assets pegged at Rs 3.93 crores while six (43 percent) of them have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. Ashok Choudhary, is the minister with the lowest declared total assets worth Rs 72.89 lakh, it said. As many as 13 (93 per cent) are crorepatis with their average assets pegged at Rs 3.93 crores, the report said.
According to the report, eight of the 14 newly sworn-in ministers in Bihar have declared criminal cases against themselves. Four (29 per cent) ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th and 12th standard, while 10 (71 per cent) ministers have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above, the poll rights body said.
A total of six (43 per cent) ministers have declared their age to be between 41-50 years, while eight (57 per cent) ministers have declared their age to be between 51-75 years. Out of 14 ministers, two are women, it added. A 14-member council of ministers, headed by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, was on Monday sworn in by Governor Phagu Chauhan.
The Bihar assembly elections for 243 sets took place on October 28 (for 71 seats), November 3 (for 94 seats) and November 7 (for 78 seats). The National Democratic Alliance won the elections after securing majority.