N Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh), Pema Khandu (Arunachal Pradesh) and Siddaramaiah (Karnataka) have emerged as the country’s top three chief ministers with high assets. They belong to the TDP, BJP and Congress, in that order.
They have declared assets of Rs 931 crore (Naidu), Rs 332 crore (Pema) and Rs 51 crore (Siddaramaiah), according to an analysis of their sworn affidavits by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) and National Election Watch (NEW). The two organisations sifted through the affidavits of all 31 current CMs and Union Territories.
The report also noted two CMs are rupee billionaires, in obvious reference to Naidu and Pema Khandu, as their assets exceed Rs 100 crore.
Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Omar Abdullah (J&K) and Pinarayi Vijayan (Kerala) top the list of chief ministers with lowest assets. They belong to Trinamool Congress, National Conference and CPI(M) and have declared assets of Rs 15 lakh (Mamata Banerjee), Rs 55 lakh (Omar Abdullah) and Rs 1 crore (Pinarayi Vijayan).
The report, however, identifies Pema Khandu (Rs 180 crore), Siddaramaiah (Rs 23 crore) and Chandrababu Naidu (Rs 10 crore) as the chief ministers with high liabilities.
The finding notes the average asset of 31 CMs is Rs 52.59 crore. While India’s per capita net national income is about Rs 1.85 lakh for the financial year 2023-24, the average income of a chief minister is Rs 13.64 lakh. This, the ADR and NEW findings observed, is 7.3 times higher than the average per capita income of Indians.
The combined assets of the 31 CMs is Rs 1,630 crore.
Eighteen CMs don’t face any criminal cases, while 13 CMs do. A dozen CMs are between 51-60 years of age, six are above 71 years. Only one CM is below 40 years. As for gender diversity, only two CMs are women.
