Modi's brand new cabinet carries potholes as a report has shocking revealed that 42 per cent of the Union Ministers have criminal cases against them including cases that related to attempt murder. The report has stunned the nation and it has come two days after Prime Minister Modi had expanded and reshuffled the cabinet for the first time since forming the government for the second consecutive term in 2019. 

The report was released by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), which is an Indian non-partisan, non-governmental organization that works in the area of electoral and political reforms. In its report, ADR has said that 42 per cent of the cabinet have declared criminal cases against them. The total strength of the council of ministers currently stands at 78 after the cabinet overhaul.

Ahead of the overhaul, twelve Union Ministers had resigned their posts and on Wednesday, 43 leaders had sworn in as the Union Ministers of which 15 had become Cabinet ministers and the rest 28 had become the Union Ministers of state. Of the total 78 ministers analyzed, 33 ministers (42 per cent of the total strength) have declared criminal cases against themselves. 

The ADR had said that these ministers had declared the criminal cases against them on their poll affidavits. Of 33, 24 ministers have declared serious criminal cases against them including cases related to murder, attempt to murder, and robbery. Four Union Ministers - Nisith Pramanik, Pankaj Choudhary, John Barla, and V Muraleedharan have declared cases related to an attempt to murder.

Nisith Pramanik from Cooch Behar constituency has been appointed as the Minister of State for Home Affairs in the cabinet expansion. 35-year-old BJP MP from West Bengal, Pramanik is the youngest minister in the cabinet and he has declared a case related to murder under section 302 of IPC. Out of the ministers analyzed, 70 ministers (90 per cent) have declared that they are millionaires.

The average assets per minister are Rs 16.24 crore. Four Union ministers have declared more than Rs 50 crore worth of assets. The four ministers are Jyotiraditya Scindia (over Rs 379 crore), Piyush Goyal (over Rs 95 crore), Narayan Tatu Rane (over Rs 87 crore), and Rajeev Chandrasekhar (over Rs 64 crore). The report has been trending on social media with several users strongly criticizing the Prime Minister for inducting the leaders with the criminal charges and appointing them as the Union ministers. 

12 out of 78 ministers have declared their educational qualification to be between 8th and 12th standard while 64 ministers have claimed that they had done a graduate or above while the rest two ministers had earned diplomas. The analysis was done on July 7 and the ministers who declared the lowest assets are Pratima Bhoumik (Rs 6 lakh), John Barla (Rs 14 lakh), Kailash Choudhary (Rs 24 lakh), and Bishweswar Tudu (Rs 27 lakh).