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Deciphering Ministers’ Backgrounds of the New Government in Bihar
Picture Credit: NDTV.com
After severe corruption charges against Lalu Yadav and his family, Nitish Kumar resigned as Chief Minister of Bihar from the coalition government of the Rashtriya Janata Dal( RJD) and Janata Dal( United). The entire political drama grabbed the attention from various hues. After leaving the Coalition, Nitish Kumar formed a new government with help from the Bhartiya Janata Party(BJP). After forming the government, Nitish Kumar dramatically embraced the BJP and its leadership especially Narendra Modi -Prime Minister of India. In this backdrop, Bihar Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) analysed the self-sworn affidavits of newly elected 29 ministers including Chief Minister from Bihar State Assembly, 2017.
List of Cabinet Ministers of Bihar:
| S.No. | Ministers | Elections | Party |
| 1 | Nitish Kumar | MLC Member | JD(U) |
| 2 | Sushil Kumar Modi | MLC Member | BJP |
| 3 | Mangal Pandey | MLC Member | BJP |
| 4 | Vinod Narayan Jha* | MLC Member | BJP |
| 5 | Rajiv Ranjan (Lalan Singh)** | Nominated Candidate for Lok Sabha Elections, 2014 | JD(U) |
| 6 | Bijendra Prasad Yadav | MLA | JD(U) |
| 7 | Brij Kishore Bind | MLA | BJP |
| 8 | Dinesh Chandra Yadav | MLA | JD(U) |
| 9 | Jai Kumar Singh | MLA | JD(U) |
| 10 | Kapil Dev Kamat | MLA | JD(U) |
| 11 | Khurshid alias Feroz Ahmad | MLA | JD(U) |
| 12 | Krishna Kumar Rishi | MLA | BJP |
| 13 | Krishannandan Prasad Verma | MLA | JD(U) |
| 14 | Madan Sahni | MLA | JD(U) |
| 15 | Maheshwar Hazari | MLA | JD(U) |
| 16 | Smt. Kumari Manju Verma | MLA | JD(U) |
| 17 | Nand Kishore Yadav | MLA | BJP |
| 18 | Pashupati Paras | MLA | LJP |
| 19 | Pramod Kumar | MLA | BJP |
| 20 | Prem Kumar | MLA | BJP |
| 21 | Ram Narayan Mandal | MLA | BJP |
| 22 | Ramesh Rishidev | MLA | JD(U) |
| 23 | Rana Randhir | MLA | BJP |
| 24 | Santosh Nirala | MLA | JD(U) |
| 25 | Shailesh Kumar | MLA | JD(U) |
| 26 | Shrawan Kumar | MLA | JD(U) |
| 27 | Suresh Sharma | MLA | BJP |
| 28 | Vijay Kumar Sinha | MLA | BJP |
| 29 | Vinod Kumar Singh | MLA | BJP |
Table: Cabinet Ministers of Bihar
*Vinod Narain Jha is an MLC member of Bihar. The data has been taken from the affidavit submitted by him during Bihar Assembly Elections, 2015.
**Rajiv Ranjan Singh contested in Lok Sabha Election 2014 and lost. The data has been taken from the affidavit submitted by him during the Lok Sabha Elections.
Criminal Background:
Ministers with Criminal Cases: 22 (76 per cent) ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves. In the previous cabinet ministers of Bihar, 19 (68 per cent) out of the 28 ministers analysed had declared criminal cases against themselves.
Ministers with Serious Criminal Cases: Out of the 22 ministers who have declared criminal cases, 9 have declared serious criminal cases against themselves.
Criteria for Serious Criminal Cases:
- The offence for which maximum punishment is 5 years or more.
- If an offence is non-bailable
- If it is an electoral offence (IPC171E or bribery)
- Offence related to loss to the public exchequer
- Offences that are assault, murder, kidnap, rape related
- Offences that are mentioned in Representation of the People Act (Section 8)
- Offences under Prevention of Corruption Act
- Crimes against women
Financial Background:
Crorepati Ministers: Out of the 29 ministers, 21 (72 per cent) are crorepatis. In the previous council of ministers, out of the 28 ministers analysed, 22(79 per cent) were crorepati.
Average Assets: The average assets of 29 ministers are Rs 2.46 crores.
Ministers with Highest Assets: The minister with the highest declared total assets is Vijay Kumar Sinha from Lakshisarai constituency with assets worth Rs.15.64 crores.
Other Background Details (Education, Gender, Age)
Ministers’ Education: A total of 9 (31 per cent) ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th and 12th pass while 18(62 per cent) are graduates or have higher degrees.
Ministers’ Age: A total of 11 (38 per cent) ministers have declared their age to be between 31-50 years while 18(62 per cent) ministers have declared their age to be between 51-70 years.
Women Ministers: Out of 29 Ministers, only 1(3 per cent) is a woman. In the previous cabinet of ministers, out of 28 Ministers, 2(7 per cent) were women.
(Source: Bihar Election Watch & Association for Democratic Reforms’ study)