Bills To Remove PM, Chief Ministers Arrested For A Month To Be Tabled Today

A bill to ensure the removal of elected representatives arrested or detained on serious criminal charges, from office, will be tabled in parliament on Wednesday. The proposed law will cover a Prime Minister, Union ministers, Chief Ministers and ministers of Union Territories.

This and two other bills -- the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025, and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025 -- could be moved to a parliamentary committee. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will also move the motion in the Lok Sabha.

So far, under the Constitution, only public representatives who have been convicted could be removed from office. The key bills, therefore, are constitutional amendment bills - the articles involved are Articles 75, 164 and 239AA.

But the proposed law says a Prime Minister, any Union minister, Chief Ministers and ministers of states and Union Territories, who are arrested and kept in custody for 30 consecutive days, will have to resign by the Day 31 or be automatically removed. 

While there was no description of the kind of criminal charges contemplated, the alleged offence has to be punishable with at least a five-year jail term. This would cover serious crimes like murder  and even largescale corruption. 

The Opposition parties are yet to respond on the matter, but they have called a meeting on Wednesday morning to discuss the issue. 

Currently accused ministers step down before arrest for the smooth functioning of the government. Aam Aadmi Party's Arvind Kejriwal, though, led the Delhi government for about six months from behind bars after his arrest in the Delhi excise policy case last year.