Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said that the bill on the ouster of a Prime Minister, Chief Minister, or a minister of state or Union Territory who is accused of serious offences would be sent to a joint parliamentary committee. He added that the members of both Houses, including Opposition members, would get an opportunity to place their suggestions.

His comments were made amidst intense protests from the Opposition benches.

Shah tabled three bills in the Lok Sabha relating to the removal of a Prime Minister, Chief Minister, or a minister of state or Union Territory in case they are arrested or detained on charges of a serious nature for 30 consecutive days.

The three bills introduced by Shah 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.

The bill tabled in Parliament has the following provisions.

Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, ministers, and ministers of state fall within the ambit.

Removal is applicable in the case of crimes which are punishable with a jail term of over five years.

Automatic removal occurs if the arrested leader fails to resign on the 31st day of arrest.

Power to disqualify the arrested leader is granted to the President, Governors, and Lieutenant Governors.

Conviction is not necessary; merely arrest can lead to disqualification.

The Opposition criticised the bills and referred to them as a backdoor move to destabilise non-BJP governments. They further accused the Centre of arming itself with the power to topple elected leaders by utilising what they called biased investigation agencies and incoherent arrests.

The Opposition, spearheaded predominantly by Congress, urged that the bills be withdrawn at once, terming them against provisions of the Constitution.

AIMIM MP Asaduddin Owaisi equated the bills with the Gestapo during the Nazi regime in Germany, contending that the government is trying to make the nation a police state. "This will give powers to unelected agencies to destroy democracy," Owaisi stated.

When Congress MP KC Venugopal raised the issue of Shah's arrest during his stint as Home Minister of Gujarat, the BJP senior leader replied that he had stepped down on moral grounds ahead of his arrest and resumed office only after being acquitted by the court.

"We cannot be so shameless that we continue to hold constitutional posts while under serious charges," Shah stated.

Among the leaders who faced arrest but did not step down were former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal who remained in office for 6 months, former Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia for 17 months, former Delhi minister Satyendra Jain for 2 years and 4 months, Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren for 5 months, and Tamil Nadu minister Senthil Balaji for 1 year and 3 months.