The joint committee led by BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi on bills to remove jailed MLAs and ministers will meet with three opposition-ruled governments in West Bengal, Telangana and Karnataka to review the bill even as opposition lawmakers pointed out major loopholes in the legislation in a committee meeting here on Wednesday.
“We have decided to listen to the views of non-NDA-ruled states. In the next step, we will meet the governments of West Bengal, Telangana and Karnataka. We will meet more state governments but some of them are scheduled to face elections in the coming days,” Sarangi told the media. The proposed meetings will be the committee’s first attempt to reach out to the opposition, which has largely boycotted the committee in objection to the content of the bill.
The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirty Amendment) Bill, 2025 also applies to the Union Territory (UT) of Delhi and the UTs of Puducherry and Jammu and Kashmir. The Bill seeks to provide for the removal of the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister of a State, or any other Minister of the Central or State Government, if he is arrested and detained for serious criminal offenses leading to imprisonment for five years or more. Current laws allow the removal of public representatives only if they are convicted and sentenced to two years or more in prison.
At the meeting, opposition leaders, including AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi and Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Supriya Sule, pointed out “fundamental flaws” in the bill. According to officials, Owaisi said that the arrested ministers could lose their positions, but the detained MPs could retain their status. He also said that the bill could be misused as rival state governments could arrest any legislator from another state.
Owaisi and Sule said the bill violates federalism and Article 14 of the Constitution. The article talks about equality before the law and says: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.”
Opposition MPs pointed out that if a minister is arrested under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act or UAPA, it will be very difficult to secure bail within one month. Section 43D(5) of the UAPA provides that “no person shall be released on bail or on his own recognizance unless the Public Prosecutor has been given an opportunity of being heard on such application” and “Provided that such accused person shall not be released on bail or on his own recognizance if the court, after perusal of the case notes or the report submitted… is of the opinion that there are reasonable grounds for believing that the accusation made against such person is prima facie true.”
Madhya Pradesh Chief Secretary Anurag Jain, who appeared before the committee, wholeheartedly supported the bill.
