All six ministers sworn in as members of the Manipur cabinet, including chief minister N Biren Singh, are crorepatis, while none have criminal cases against them, a new report from the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) says.
The Manipur Election Watch and ADR analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all six ministers.
The cabinet has only one woman member.
“All six of them have not declared criminal cases against themselves,” the report said.
The average assets of the six are worth Rs 4.04 crore.
“The minister with the highest declared total assets is Konthoujam Govindas Singh from Bishenpur constituency, with assets worth Rs 8.32 crore,” the report added.
CM Singh, from Heingang constituency, is the minister with the lowest declared total assets worth Rs 1.47 crore.
On Monday, Singh was sworn in as the chief minister of Manipur for a second consecutive term. Biswajit Singh, one of the frontrunners for the top post, also took the oath as a member of the cabinet. Others who took the oath were Yumnam Khemchand Singh, Govindas Konthoujam, Nemcha Kipgen and Awngbow Newmai. Only Awngbow Newmai is from the Naga People’s Front (NPF) while the rest are from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Further, all ministers have declared liabilities. Yumnam Khemchand Singh of Singjamei constituency tops the list liabilities worth Rs 59 lakh.
One of the ministers, MLA from Imphal West’s Singjamei Khemchand Singh, has studied till Class 10. Four (67%) are graduate or above, while Mangpokpi’s MLA Nemcha Kipgen is a diploma holder.
All the ministers have declared their age to be between 45 and 65 years, the report says.
In the 60-member assembly, the BJP has bagged 32 seats, while the Congress five. Seven candidates from the National People’s Party (NPP) have won, along with six from the Janata Dal (United). Three candidates are independents, while two are from the Kuki People’s Alliance and five from NPF.
Of the 60 winning candidates, 14 (23%) have declared criminal cases in their self-sworn affidavits, including 11 (18%) who are facing serious criminal cases. In 2017, two MLAs had declared criminal cases and both were facing serious charges.
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