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That money power in elections plays a big role was quite evident during the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections this year. Now here’s a look at the profile of Ministers from the winning party – the AIADMK.
For one, 24 out of the 29 Ministers are crorepatis, with average assets declared by all Ministers at ₹8.55 crore. Out of the 29, only four are women, including the Chief Minister.
The three AIADMK Ministers with the highest assets are Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa (₹113 crore), Veeramani KC (₹27 crore) and Benjamin P ( ₹23 crore), according to an analysis by Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) of their self-sworn affidavits submitted to the Election Commission. The three Ministers with the lowest assets are Udhayakumar RB (₹31 lakh), VM Rajalakshmi (₹59 lakh) and Jayakumar D (₹83 lakh).
The record of criminal cases of the new Ministers, however, is much better, going by their affidavits, as only 8 have declared criminal cases against themselves. Out of these, four have declared serious criminal cases, such as attempt to murder, voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means etc.
With regard to education, an ADR release said 17 (59 per cent) Ministers are graduates or above and 12 (41 per cent) are 12th pass or below.
Among the 29 new Ministers, only two are aged between 25-40 years, with the majority 17 aged 41-60 years and 10 between 61-70 years.
In sharp contrast to Tamil Nadu (24/29), only five out of 19 new Left Democratic Front Ministers in Kerala are crorepatis. But, when it comes to criminal cases, 17 of these Ministers have declared such cases, with three having declared serious cases, says an ADR analysis.
The average assets of the new Ministers are ₹78.72 lakh. The richest three are AK Balan (₹2 crore), AK Saseendran (₹1 crore) and Mathe T Thomas (₹1 crore).
The three Ministers with lowest assets are TM Thomas Isaac (₹18 lakh), E Chandrashekharan (₹20 lakh) and VS Sunilkumar (₹25 lakh).
The education details of the new Kerala Cabinet is a mix – six are Class V-XII pass, eight are graduate or graduate professionals, three are post-graduates and two are doctorates.
The maximum – 15 Ministers – are aged between 51-70 years, two are aged 40-150 years and two are 70+. Out of the 19 Ministers, only two are women.
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