Bill seeking removal of jailed leaders will improve moral standards in politics: Shah

Defending the recently introduced Constitutional Amendment Bill, which entails removal of leader, including Prime Minister or chief ministers, imprisoned for 30 days under serious offences, Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the legislation was meant to improve the standards of morality in politics and make people decide whether they want PMs/CMs to rule from jail.

Shah, who was addressing a media conclave in Kerala, cited the example of former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, who he said, was running the government from jail and did not resign from the post even after being arrested for his alleged role in the liquor scam case.

The Minister went on to say the 130th Constitution Amendment Bill-2025 has been sent to a joint parliamentary panel, where members of all parties can present their views regarding the proposed legislation. The UT (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and J&K Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025, have also been referred to the committee.

Shah said the Constitution had to be amended as the architects of the Constitution had not dreamt that a time will come when people will run governments from jails. “So should not the Constitution be amended? The level of morality in politics needs to be maintained by both the ruling party as well as the opposition. The bill had to be brought due to Kejriwal’s incident,” he said.

Attacking Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for opposing the Amendment Bill, Shah said that it was only being done because the Opposition has been losing elections on a regular basis. He also raked up Gandhi’s act of tearing up an ordinance brought during the UPA regime, which entailed saving convicted legislators from disqualification.

“That ordinance, which Rahul Gandhi had torn to pieces, was brought to protect Lalu Prasad Yadav. The same Rahul Gandhi is now seen embracing Yadav in Patna’s Gandhi Maidan (referring to the Congress leader’s ongoing Vote Adhikar Yatra in Bihar). What kind of morality is this,” Shah said, while giving the context for bringing the Constitution Amendment Bill.

On Gandhi’s allegation of vote theft and his ongoing ‘Vote Adhikar’ Yatra against the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, Shah said that the Leader of Opposition eyes all Constitutional bodies like the EC, with suspicion. “The SIR was also done earlier. If political parties have any objections regarding the draft electoral roll, they can appeal to the authorities,” Shah countered. He added that holding SIR was EC’s job.