Five of seven newly sworn in Delhi ministers, including CM Rekha Gupta, face criminal cases: ADR report

Five out of the seven newly sworn-in ministers in Delhi have declared criminal cases against themselves, according to the poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms.

This also includes BJP leader Rekha Gupta, who took oath as chief minister of Delhi today. One minister, Ashish Sood, faces serious criminal charges.

The findings are based on the self-sworn affidavits submitted by the ministers ahead of the 2025 Delhi Assembly Elections.

On the financial front, two ministers, accounting for 29% of the cabinet, are billionaires.

Manjinder Singh Sirsa, the BJP MLA from Rajouri Garden constituency, has highest declared total assets upto Rs. 248.85 crore.

The minister with the lowest declared total assets is Kapil Mishra from Karawal Nagar constituency with assets worth ₹1.06 crore.

The average assets of the seven ministers analysed stand at ₹56.03 crore. All seven ministers have declared liabilities, with Parvesh Sahib Singh of the New Delhi constituency having the highest liabilities at ₹74.36 crore.

Six out of the seven minister have declared educational qualifications of graduate level or above, while one minister has completed only the 12th standard.

Rekha Gupta takes charge as Delhi CM

BJP MLA Rekha Gupta took charge as the 9th chief minister of Delhi at her Secretariat office in Delhi on Thursday.

The first-time MLA from Shalimar Bagh was administered oath as the chief minister by Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena in a grand ceremony at the Ramlila Maidan.

Six MLAs, Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma, who defeated former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, Ashish Sood, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, Ravinder Indraj Singh, Kapil Mishra, and Pankaj Singh were also sworn in as ministers into Gupta’s Cabinet.

The oath ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the top BJP brass and NDA leaders.

Rekha Gupta is Delhi’s fourth woman chief minister after her party’s Sushma Swaraj, the Congress’ Sheila Dikshit and AAP’s Atishi.