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Deciphering Ministers’ Backgrounds of the New Government in Bihar

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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:

  1. The offence for which maximum punishment is 5 years or more.
  2. If an offence is non-bailable
  3. If it is an electoral offence (IPC171E or bribery)
  4. Offence related to loss to the public exchequer
  5. Offences that are assault, murder, kidnap, rape related
  6. Offences that are mentioned in Representation of the People Act (Section 8)
  7. Offences under Prevention of Corruption Act
  8. 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)

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