The 130th Constitutional Amendment Bill brought by the present NDA Government at the Centre, which states that the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers and Ministers, if jailed for more than thirty consecutive days without receiving bail for offences that attract a jail term of over five years, can be removed from office. They can be reappointed once released from jail. The bill has been referred to a Joint Parliamentary Committee for consideration. Concern is being expressed that this bill, if it becomes a law, would undermine the democratic mandate enjoyed by elected leaders. However, as was witnessed in the case of former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and colleagues in his Cabinet, the fundamentals of governance were severely violated as they continued to cling to office while in jail for long periods of time.
Experts and opposition parties have pointed out that there is great scope in the proposed law for misuse. They assert that no such punitive action should be taken before a person is proven guilty. It is claimed that the central agencies such as the ED and CBI would be used to destabilise state governments through cooked up cases. In this regard, even the complicity of the courts is being suggested, as it is ultimately for them to decide if a politician is to be in judicial custody for the alleged offences.
In must be remembered in this context that the Indian democratic model is largely based on the British one, where much of the functioning is based on conventions. Prime Ministers, Ministers and Members of Parliament feel obliged by public opinion to resign if a particular established red line is crossed. For instance, British PM Boris Johnson resigned mainly because of what was described as the ‘Partygate’ scandal, for having violated Covid 19 social distancing protocols by holding parties at 10 Downing Street. Despite that he was not inclined to give in easily, he still had to submit to standards that the British uphold in public office. These conventions were followed even in India in the early years, but things have gone downhill since then.
Such is the rivalry between politicians nowadays that a chief minister fears giving up his or her post even temporarily as their substitute may conspire to keep them out permanently. Whatever the case, just as a plane cannot yet fly without a pilot, government cannot be run in absentia. Hence the ‘harsh’ new bill!
