New Delhi: Five out of the top 10 richest Chief Ministers in India are from the north-eastern states, with Arunachal Pradesh’s Pema Khandu on the number two of the list, according to an analysis of poll affidavits by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and New Election Watch (NEW).
Khandu’s total assets are worth Rs 163.38 crore. The other four CMs on the list include Neiphui Rio from Nagaland with assets worth Rs 46.95 crore, followed by Himanta Biswa Sarma from Assam with Rs 17.27 crore, Conrad Sangma from Meghalaya with Rs 14.06 crore, and Manik Saha from Tripura with assets worth Rs 13.90 crore.
Out of the 30 incumbent chief ministers of states and union territories analysed, 29 are crorepatis, with Jagan Mohan Reddy from Andhra Pradesh topping the list with assets totalling Rs 510 crore.
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Meanwhile, Mamata Banerjee from West Bengal has the lowest assets, totalling Rs 15.38 lakh.
The ADR report also revealed that 43% of the 30 CMs have declared serious criminal cases, including those related to murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping and criminal intimidation.
K Chandrasekhar Rao from Telangana tops the list with 37 serious cases out of a total of 64 cases, followed by M K Stalin from Tamil Nadu with 10 serious IPC cases out of the 47 cases in total.
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Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has 35 serious IPC cases registered against him.
Regarding educational qualifications, the ADR report found that most CMs, 11, are graduates, while nine hold post-graduation degrees.
Himanta Biswa Sarma from Assam is the only one with a PhD degree, while Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde has the lowest educational qualification with only Class 10.
Three CMs are Class 12 pass-outs, namely Hemant Soren from Jharkhand, Bhagwant Mann from Punjab, and Pinarayi Vijayan from Kerala.