130th Constitutional Amendment Bill 2025 Explained: Key Provisions, Impact, and Controversy

For a UPSC-oriented response, it’s important to present the information on the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill in a clear format. This should include its provisions, rationale, and the legal and political arguments around it.

The Constitution (One Hundred and Thirtieth) Amendment Bill, 2025 was introduced in the Lok Sabha by the Union Home Minister. It aims to amend the Constitution to create a legal framework for removing the Prime Minister, Union ministers, chief ministers, and state ministers under certain situations involving criminal charges.

Key Provisions of the Bill
Removal of Ministers: The bill states that a minister, including the Prime Minister or a chief minister, will automatically lose their office if they are arrested and detained for 30 consecutive days.

offence Criterion: This criteria is applicable only to criminal offences that carry a five-year or longer prison sentence.

Preventive Action: By the 31st day following their arrest, a minister must notify the governor (for state ministers) or the president (for union ministers) of their detention in order to prevent this automatic dismissal.

Reappointment Clause: According to the bill, a minister may be reappointed at any time after being released from detention.

Justification and Goals
According to the administration, this bill seeks to preserve public confidence in elected officials, guarantee effective governance, and promote constitutional morality. They contend that a minister who faces severe criminal accusations and is detained for an extended period of time may find it difficult to carry out their constitutional responsibilities, which could undermine good governance.

Remarks and Issues
Due to a number of legal and constitutional concerns, the law is strongly opposed.

Due Process Violation: According to critics, the measure violates the essential legal precept of “innocent until proven guilty.” Accusations and detention, not a conviction, are the basis for the deportation.

Separation of Powers: The measure is perceived by some as an excessive intrusion by the Executive into the Judiciary. Bypassing the judicial conviction process, it enables executive agencies (such as the police or CBI) to begin the process of removing elected politicians by arrest and detention.

Political Misuse: The possibility of the measure being abused for political ends is a serious worry. This clause could be used by a governing government to attack and weaken state governments led by the opposition by falsely accusing their chief ministers and other officials.

Articles of the Constitution: Article 164 (for State Ministers) and Article 75 (for Union Ministers) are directly relevant to the bill. The changes to these articles and their implications could be the subject of a UPSC question.

Constitutional Principles: It discusses important constitutional ideas that are essential for examination analysis, such as federalism, due process, the separation of powers, and constitutional morality.

In contrast to the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which disqualifies a person only after a conviction carrying a sentence of two years or more, the bill adds a further tier of disqualification based on incarceration. A comparative study of these two legal systems can be requested.

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