New Delhi: A report by Gujarat Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms claimed that at least one-fourth of the ministers in the new Gujarat cabinet have criminal charges against them and nearly three-fourths of the 25 ministers have assets worth crores.
The latest poll watchdog report said that out of the total 25 ministers in the new cabinet, seven are involved in criminal cases. Of these, three face serious criminal charges. At least 19 of these ministers are crorepatis.
The ministers facing criminal charges include Patel Raghavjibhai Hansrajbhai, Arvindbhai Gordhanbhai Raiyani, Vaghani Jitendrabhai Savjibhai and Rajendra Trivedi. The ministers facing serious criminal charges are Parmar Pradeepbhai Khanabhai; Jitubhai Choudhary and Sanghvi Harsh Rameshkumar.
There are only two women in the cabinet and the average assets of 25 ministers is Rs 3.95 crore.
“The minister with the highest declared total assets is Patel Rushikesh Ganeshbhai from Visnagar constituency who has assets of Rs 14.95 crore. The minister with the lowest declared total assets is Chauhan Arjunsinh Udesingh from Mehmedabad constituency, who has assets of Rs 12.57 lakh.
At least 13 ministers, of which 52 per cent, have declared their educational qualifications to be between 8th and 12th standard, while 11 (44 per cent) ministers have declared to have graduation or above. A minister is literate.
A total of 13 ministers have declared their age between 31-50 years while 12 (48%) ministers have declared their age between 51-70 years.
The new ministers of the Bhupendra Patel-led government in Gujarat were sworn in on Thursday. First-time MLA Bhupendra Patel, 59, took over as the new Chief Minister of Gujarat on Monday following the sudden resignation of Vijay Rupani last week.
Assembly elections in the state are to be held in December 2022. In the 2017 assembly elections, the BJP won 99 out of 182 seats and the Congress 77 seats.
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