Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the people of India would have to decide if it is appropriate for a Prime Minister or a Chief Minister to run the government while he/she is in jail.
He said this soon after the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025′, introduced by him in the Lok Sabha, were referred to the JPC after their introduction in the Lok Sabha.
The Union Minister said that the move reflected the Narendra Modi government’s commitment against political corruption in the country.
“Now, the people of the country will have to decide whether it is appropriate for a minister, Chief Minister, or Prime Minister to run the government while in jail. Seeing the Modi government’s commitment against political corruption in the country and the public’s outrage, today I introduced a Constitutional Amendment Bill in Parliament with the consent of the Lok Sabha Speaker, which ensures that important constitutional posts such as Prime Minister, Chief Minister, and ministers of the central and state governments cannot run the government while in jail,” Shah posted on X.
The Union Home Minister further explained that the bill is aimed at restoring morality in public life and bringing integrity to politics.
The purpose of this bill is to elevate the declining level of morality in public life and bring integrity to politics. The law that will come into existence through these three bills is as follows:
(1) No person, while arrested and in jail, can govern as Prime Minister, Chief Minister, or a minister of the central or state government.
(2) When the Constitution was framed, our Constitution makers could not have imagined that in the future, there would be political figures who would not resign on moral grounds before being arrested. In recent years, an astonishing situation has arisen in the country where Chief Ministers or ministers have continued to run the government immorally from jail without resigning.
(3) This bill also includes a provision that allows an accused politician to seek bail from the court within 30 days of arrest. If they fail to obtain bail within 30 days, on the 31st day, either the Prime Minister at the center or the Chief Ministers in the states will remove them from their posts, or they will automatically become legally ineligible to perform their duties. If such a leader is granted bail after the legal process, they can resume their position, the Union Minister wrote in the post.
Earlier in the day, Opposition parties opposed the bills and raised slogans against them.
“I stand to oppose the introduction of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025, the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025, and the Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025. This violates the principle of separation of powers and undermines the right of the people to elect a government. It gives executive agencies a free hand to act as judge and executioner based on flimsy allegations and suspicions,” AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi said.
Following uproar in the house, Shah requested the Lok Sabha Speaker to refer the Bills to a parliamentary Joint Committee.