With assets worth Rs 177 crore, Chandrababu Naidu, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, is the richest CM in the country. Giving him company in this exclusive club, are the chief ministers of Arunachal Pradesh Pema Khandu, whose assets are worth Rs 129 crore, and Punjab CM, Amarinder Singh, who has Rs 48 crore to his name.
An analysis of the self sworn affidavits filed by chief ministers of 29 states and two Union Territories throws up interesting facts. Like Mamata Banerjee,CM of West Bengal, has declared assets worth Rs 30 lakh only, with no immovable assets. Devendra Fadnavis, CM of Maharshtra, has the highest number of cases registered against him: 22
Of these, three are serious cases. Coming second is Pinarayi Vijayan, CM of Kerala, who has declared 11 criminal cases against himself in the affidavit. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal is a close third with 10 criminal cases registered against his name. The analysis, which was conducted by transparency body Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR), found that of the 31 CMs, 20 have clean records while 11, or 35%, have declared criminal cases. Eight (26%) have serious criminal cases.
The report by ADR also says the average asset per CM is just over Rs 16 crore, with 25 of the 31 CMs being crorepatis. The three CMs with the lowest assests are Manik Sarkar of CPI(M) with Rs 26 lakh+ , Banerjee with Rs 30 lakh and Mehbooba Mufti of JKPDP with Rs 55 lakh. The report says that 55% of the CMs have assets worth Rs 1 crore to Rs 10 crore, with 19% having assets less than a crore.
7% have assets worth Rs 100 crore and above. Education wise, the CMs have a consistent record, with 39% being graduates and another 32% being professionals. A significant 16% are post graduates and 10% have passed high school. One CM, P K Chamling of Sikkim, is a doctorate.