New Delhi, May 21 (IANS): Nine ministers, who have taken oath in Karnataka, have criminal cases against them and all are crorepatis, according to the report of the Karnataka Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The report is based on the analysis of the self-sworn affidavits of nine out of 10 Ministers, including Siddaramaiah, the new Chief Minister of Karnataka.
The report said that it could not analyse K.J. George's case due to the unavailability of his clear and complete affidavits on the ECI website at the time of making this report.
The report said, "Out of the nine ministers analysed, all nine ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves, while four ministers have declared serious criminal cases against them.
Highlighting the financial background of the nine ministers, the report said that all the nine ministers in Karnataka are crorepatis.
It said, "The average assets of nine ministers analysed is Rs 229.27 crore."
The report further said that Karnataka's sole Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar is the richest as he declared total assets worth Rs 1,413.80 crore, while Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's son Priyank Kharge is the minister with the lowest declared total assets.
Priyank, who is an MLA from Chittapur (SC) constituency, has declared assets worth Rs 16.83 crore.
The report also pointed out that all nine ministers have declared their liabilities. Out of these the one with the highest liabilities is D.K. Shivakumar, MLA from the Kanakapura constituency with Rs 265.06 crore.
Highlighting the Ministers' education, the report said, "Three Ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th pass and 12th pass, while six Ministers have declared having an educational qualification of graduate and above."
It also said that five ministers have declared their age to be between 41 and 60 years while four ministers have declared their age to be between 61 and 80 years.
The report also pointed out there are no women ministers in the new Karnataka Cabinet.
On Saturday, Siddaramaiah took oath as the new Karnataka Chief Minister with Shivakumar as his deputy. Besides the two, eight more ministers took oath at a ceremony in Bengaluru, which was attended by top Congress brass and several opposition party leaders from the country.