The Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025 is a proposed Constitutional Amendment Bill introduced in the Lok Sabha on August 20, 2025, which seeks to establish a legal framework for the mandatory removal of Ministers facing serious criminal charges. The Bill's origin lies in the long-standing concern over the criminalization of politics and the need to uphold constitutional morality and public trust. It aims to solve the problem of elected representatives continuing in high executive office even while detained for grave offenses.
The key mechanism of the Bill is the provision for the automatic removal of the Prime Minister, a Chief Minister, or any other Minister in the central or state government. This removal is triggered if the Minister is accused of a "serious criminal offence," defined as one punishable with imprisonment of five years or more, and has been arrested and detained in custody for 30 consecutive days. The Bill proposes to amend Article 75 (Union Council of Ministers), Article 164 (State Council of Ministers), and Article 239AA (Special provisions with respect to Delhi) of the Constitution of India. Specifically, it would add a new clause to Articles 75 and 164.
This Bill connects to the existing legal position established by the Supreme Court in Lily Thomas v. Union of India (2013), which ruled that disqualification from holding office occurs only upon conviction. The 130th Amendment Bill, 2025 represents a significant change by shifting the threshold for removal from conviction to prolonged detention for a serious offense. Two other Bills with similar provisions were introduced to apply these changes to the Union Territories of Puducherry and Jammu & Kashmir. The Bill has been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for review.