Bills On Jailed Ministers Removal: Opposition Delay On Member Nomination Stalls Joint Parliamentary Committee Formation

As Opposition parties have not yet named members for the Joint Committee of Parliament formed to examine the three Bills on automatic dismissal of jailed ministers, the government is considering forming a panel with MPs from the NDA, smaller parties, and Independent members, Indian Express reported.

The government has sent multiple reminders to Opposition parties in this regard but they are yet to inform the Lok Sabha Speaker whether they are nominating or boycotting the joint panel, according to a government source cited in the IE report,

Amid uproar in Parliament on 20 August, Union Home Minister Amit Shah introduced three legislations — the Constitution (130th Amendment) Bill, 2025; the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025; and the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025.

The bills propose that any minister — including the Prime Minister, Chief Ministers, or Union and state ministers — will automatically lose office if arrested and detained for 30 consecutive days in a case carrying a minimum sentence of five years.

Opposition parties termed the Bills as “unconstitutional.”

However, the Opposition bloc INDI Alliance reportedly remains divided on the Joint Committee of Parliament announced by Speaker Om Birla to review the Bills.

While the Left and reportedly the Congress favour participation in the committee, parties like the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Samajwadi Party (SP) have made it clear they will boycott it.

The Trinamool Congress announced that it would not nominate any member to the committee, describing the panel as a “farce.”

According to sources cited in the IE report, the Congress, Samajwadi Party, and Trinamool Congress were among the parties that had been recently sent a reminder.

According to the IE report, Congress chief whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore said, “We have not decided yet (on joining the panel). The Congress leadership, including our president Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, will discuss the issue with other parties in the INDIA bloc. The Congress has to evolve a consensus on it… We want it to be an INDIA bloc decision”.

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