20 ministers in Modi cabinet have declared criminal cases

The National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) stated today that as many as eight newly inducted ministers in Narendra Modi’s cabinet have declared criminal cases against themselves. Out of the total 64 ministers as many as 20, that comes to 31 per cent have declared criminal cases.They have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 64 ministers out of 66 Ministers (Including Prime Minister) from Lok Sabha 2014 and current Rajya Sabha. The details of Suresh Prabhu and Birendra Singh were not analysed as they are not currently members of either house.

According to this analysis, among newly inducted cabinet ministers, 4 ministers have declared serious criminal cases. In total, 11 (17%) ministers have declared serious criminal cases including cases related to attempt to murder, communal disharmony, electoral violations etc.Dr. Ramshankar Katheria from Agra Constituency has declared a case related to attempt to murder. Among the rest of the ministers, Uma Bharti from Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh of BJP had also declared a case related to attempt to murder (IPC Section-307)
Dr. Ramshankar Katheria also declared a case related to promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (IPC Section-153A). Among the rest of the ministers, Uma Bharti had also declared a case under IPC Section-153A.
Giriraj Singh of Nawada Constituency declared a case related to undue influence or personation at an election (IPC Section-171F). Among the rest of the ministers, Uma Bharti  had also declared a case related to Illegal payments in connection with an election (IPC Section-171H) along with Upendra Kushwaha of Rashtriya Lok Samta Party from Karakat constituency, Bihar and Ram Vilas Paswan of LJP from Hajipur constituency, Bihar have each declared a case related to Bribery (IPC Section – 171E).