New Delhi | A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms and the Kerala Election Watch has found that 18 of the 20 Kerala ministers whose affidavits were analysed have declared criminal cases against their names, while 15 are crorepatis.
The analysis is based on the self-sworn affidavits of 20 out of 21 ministers, including Chief Minister V D Satheesan, who were sworn in on Monday as the Congress-led UDF returned to power in Kerala after a gap of 10 years.
The affidavit of minister C P John from Thiruvananthapuram was not analysed as the document uploaded on the Election Commission website was unclear at the time of preparing the report, the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) said.
The report said that 18 ministers, or 90 per cent of those analysed, have declared criminal cases against their names. Of these, 14, or 70 per cent, face serious criminal cases.
On the assets front, the report said that 15 of the 20 ministers analysed, or 75 per cent, are crorepatis. The average assets declared by the 20 ministers stood at Rs 6.32 crore.
According to the report, Chavara MLA Shibu Baby John has declared the highest assets at Rs 24.63 crore, while Kodungallur legislator O J Janeesh declared the lowest at Rs 57.08 lakh.
The report also examined the educational, age and gender profiles of the ministers.
It found that three ministers, or 15 per cent, have educational qualifications between Class 10 and Class 12, while 17, or 85 per cent, have qualifications of graduate level or above.
In terms of age, six ministers, or 30 per cent, fall in the 31-50 years bracket, while 14, or 70 per cent, declared their age between 51 and 80 years.
Women account for two of the 21 ministers in the Kerala Cabinet, representing around 10 per cent of its total strength, the report said.
