Almost half of India’s ministers carry the weight of declared criminal cases, including grave charges of murder, kidnapping and crimes against women, according to an analysis released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) on Thursday.
The watchdog’s findings come against the backdrop of three proposed legislations by the Centre, aimed at disqualifying prime ministers, chief ministers and ministers arrested for 30 days on serious criminal charges.
The ADR studied self-sworn affidavits of 643 ministers from 27 state assemblies, three Union Territories and the Union Council of Ministers. Its report revealed that 302 ministers, or nearly 47 per cent, declared criminal cases, while 174 of them face serious charges.
Party-wise figures highlighted sharp contrasts. Of the 336 Bharatiya Janata Party ministers assessed, 136 (40 per cent) disclosed criminal cases, with 88 (26 per cent) involved in serious offences. The Congress, which governs four states, reported 45 ministers (74 per cent) with criminal cases, of which 18 (30 per cent) related to serious crimes.
The situation was most stark in the Telugu Desam Party. Of its 23 ministers, 22 (96 per cent) had criminal cases and 13 (57 per cent) faced serious charges. The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam reported 27 out of 31 ministers (87 per cent) with criminal cases, while 14 (45 per cent) were linked to grave charges. In the Trinamool Congress, 13 of 40 ministers (33 per cent) carried criminal records, including 8 (20 per cent) booked for serious offences.
Among the Aam Aadmi Party’s 16 ministers, 11 (69 per cent) declared criminal cases and five (31 per cent) admitted to serious charges. Nationally, 29 of the 72 Union ministers (40 per cent) were found to have criminal cases in their affidavits.
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The report highlighted regional disparities. Eleven assemblies, including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Odisha, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Punjab, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Puducherry, had more than 60 per cent of ministers with criminal charges. In contrast, ministers in Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Nagaland and Uttarakhand reported none.
ADR also examined the financial disclosures of ministers. The combined assets of 643 ministers were pegged at Rs 23,929 crore, with the average minister owning Rs 37.21 crore. Eleven assemblies featured billionaire ministers, led by Karnataka with eight, Andhra Pradesh with six and Maharashtra with four.
At the national level, six Union ministers (eight per cent) were billionaires. Party-wise, the BJP had 14 billionaire ministers, followed by Congress with 11, while the TDP accounted for six.
TDP’s Dr Chandra Sekhar Pemmasani, Lok Sabha member from Guntur, topped the rich list with assets of over Rs 5,705 crore. He was followed by Karnataka Congress leader D K Shivakumar (Rs 1,413 crore) and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu (Rs 931 crore).
Other wealthy ministers included Narayana Ponguru and Nara Lokesh (Andhra Pradesh), Gaddam Vivekanand and Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy (Telangana), Suresha B S (Karnataka), Mangal Prabhat Lodha (Maharashtra), and Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia.
At the opposite end, ministers such as Sukla Charan Noatia of the Indigenous Peoples Front of Tripura declared assets worth just Rs 2 lakh, while Birbaha Hansda of the Trinamool Congress disclosed assets of slightly above Rs 3 lakh.
The ADR noted that the legal status of several cases may have changed since the affidavits were submitted to the Election Commission during elections held between 2020 and 2025.
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