Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Bihar for a record tenth time during a ceremony held at Patna’s Gandhi Maidan. Alongside him, Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha took their oaths as deputy chief ministers, part of a cabinet that includes 26 ministers.
The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an election watchdog, examined the backgrounds of 24 of the 26 ministers who were sworn in. Findings revealed that 11 ministers, accounting for 46%, have declared criminal cases against them. Additionally, 9 ministers, or 38%, have serious criminal cases pending.
The current cabinet includes 14 ministers from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and 8 from the Janata Dal (United) (JD(U)). Among the BJP’s representatives, 6 have declared serious criminal cases. In JD(U), excluding Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, one member has a serious criminal case, while two others have declared criminal cases.
Mangal Pandey, who was elected from Siwan, is noted for having eight serious criminal cases pending against him. Following him is Ram Nishad from the Aurai constituency, with five serious criminal cases against him, as detailed in their self-attested affidavits.
A serious criminal charge is defined as one where the maximum punishment exceeds five years, is non-bailable, relates to crimes against women, or falls under any election-related offences. Conversely, a criminal charge refers to any pending case where a court has acknowledged it.
In terms of educational qualifications, 8 ministers (33%) reported completing between 10th and 12th standard. Meanwhile, 15 ministers (63%) indicated having graduated or attained a higher level of education, with one minister holding a diploma. Among them, one minister has completed 10th grade, while seven have finished 12th grade.
Regarding financial backgrounds, 21 of the 24 ministers analyzed, or 88%, are classified as crorepatis. The average assets per minister stand at ₹5.32 crores. The wealthiest minister is Rama Nishad, with declared assets worth ₹31.86 crores, while the poorest is Sanjay Kumar from Bakhri (SC), holding assets valued at ₹22.30 lakhs.
Out of the ministers analyzed, 15 (63%) declared liabilities, with the highest being ₹82.33 lakhs reported by Vijay Kumar Sinha from Lakhisarai constituency.
In terms of age, 5 ministers (21%) are between 30 and 50 years old, while 19 ministers (79%) fall within the 51 to 80 year age bracket. Representation of women in this cabinet is low, with only 3 women serving among the total of 27 ministers, constituting 11%.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by prominent leaders from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, and BJP President JP Nadda, alongside other chief ministers from various states such as Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Assam, and Nagaland.
The NDA coalition won a total of 202 seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, with the BJP securing 89 seats, JD(U) 85, the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) 19, Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) 5, and the Rashtriya Loktantrik Morcha 4 seats.
