Union Home Minister Amit Shah will introduce a bill in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday for the removal of an elected representative who is arrested or detained on serious criminal charges for 30 consecutive days.
The bill states that if a Prime Minister, a Union Minister, a Chief Minister, or a Minister of a State or Union Territory is arrested or detained on serious criminal charges for 30 consecutive days, they will be required to resign on the 31st day.
Amit Shah will also move a motion in the lower house to refer these bills to a joint committee of parliament.
As per the existing law, an elected representative can be removed only if he or she is convicted. The new bill will amend this law to ensure that a minister cannot remain in office even if they are facing trial in a serious criminal offence that attracts a jail term of at least five years.
The bill seeks to amend Articles 75, 164 and 239AA of the Constitution, for providing a legal framework for the removal of the prime minister or a minister in the Union Council of Ministers and the chief minister or a minister in the Council of Ministers of States and the National Capital Territory of Delhi in such cases.
It also seeks to amend Section 45 of the Government of Union Territories Act, 1963, and Section 54 of the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act, 2019 to provide a legal framework for the removal of a chief minister or a minister.
"A minister, who for any period of 30 consecutive days during holding the office as such, is arrested and detained in custody, on allegation of committing an offence under any law for the time being in force, which is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more, shall be removed from his office by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister to be tendered by the thirty-first day, after being taken in such custody," says the bill.
"Provided further that in case of the prime minister, who for any period of 30 consecutive days during holding the office as such, is arrested and detained in custody, on allegation of committing an offence under any law for the time being in force, which is punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to five years or more, shall tender his resignation by the thirty-first day after such arrest and detention, and if he does not tender his resignation, he shall cease to be the Prime Minister with effect from the day falling thereafter," it further says.
The bill assumes significance as several ministers, including former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal and Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji, had not resigned from their posts ever after their arrests on different charges.
The ministry of parliamentary affairs has requested the Lok Sabha Secretariat to include three bill for introduction on Wednesday—the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill 2025; the Constitution (One Hundred And Thirtieth Amendment) Bill 2025; the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill 2025; and the Promotion and Regulation of Online Gaming Bill, 2025.