The Union government prepares to introduce three important and controversial bills. These bills say that any prime minister, union minister, chief minister, or minister of a state or union territory will lose their post if they remain in jail for 30 consecutive days in connection with serious criminal charges.

The bills that will be introduced are 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. They will be tabled by the Union Home Ministry, and Home Minister Amit Shah is expected to move a motion to send the bills to a joint parliamentary committee for further scrutiny.

Opposition parties, however, are strongly against the government’s move. They allege that the law is being brought in to target opposition leaders and destabilise non-BJP governments by using central agencies to arrest their chief ministers and ministers.

One opposition MP told India Today TV that they will not allow such a bill to be brought in the Lok Sabha. The MP said, "We won't even let it be introduced. We will break the table and tear the bill."

What do the bills say?

The three proposed laws are being called major anti-corruption bills by the government. They state that if a prime minister, chief minister, or minister is arrested and kept in custody for 30 straight days on charges that carry a punishment of at least five years in jail, then they will automatically be removed from office on the 31st day.

The government has introduced these measures after controversies in the past when leaders such as former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji continued to remain in office despite being in jail.

According to the bill, "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 punishable with imprisonment of five years or more, shall be removed from his office by the President on the advice of the Prime Minister by the thirty-first day after being taken in such custody."

Opposition reactions

The Opposition has reacted sharply. Soon after the bills were listed in the Lok Sabha, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi wrote on X, "What a vicious circle! No guidelines for arrest were followed! Arrests of opposition leaders are rampant and disproportionate."

He further added, "The best way to destabilise the opposition is to unleash biased central agencies to arrest opposition CMs and, despite being unable to defeat them electorally, remove them by arbitrary arrests!! And no ruling party incumbent CM ever touched!!"

Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee also accused the Centre of misusing agencies. He wrote, "Having failed in its attempt to misuse the EC to implement SIR, the government has now activated another 'E', ED, to bring in laws that target opposition leaders, crush democracy and manipulate the people’s mandate by toppling state governments."

The stage is now set for a heated debate in Parliament, with the government calling it a move against corruption, while the Opposition sees it as a direct attack on democracy and elected leaders.

You might also be interested in: Amit Shah introduces bill in Parliament to remove PM, CMs & ministers if arrested