Singhvi Slams J&K, UT Bills: ‘Powers to Topple Elected Govts'

Spread love

Congress leader warns new amendments on disqualification of Chief Ministers and Ministers in custody could destabilise opposition-run governments

By TRH Political Desk

NEW DELHI, August 19, 2025 — With Union Home Minister Amit Shah set for tabling two bills — the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2025 and the Government of Union Territories (Amendment) Bill, 2025 — anonymous officials cited in social media posts by journalists justified them as measures for accountability. Under the proposed framework, any Chief Minister or Minister who remains in custody for 30 consecutive days would automatically lose office.

But the opposition sees a dangerous political design. Congress leader and senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi minced no words on X, calling the move a “vicious circle.” His charge is simple yet searing: “No guidelines for arrest are followed. Arrests of opposition leaders are rampant and disproportionate. The new law ensures that an incumbent CM is removed immediately upon arrest — the best way to destabilise opposition governments.”

The underlying fear is not theoretical. India’s recent political landscape has seen a string of high-profile arrests — often of opposition Chief Ministers, ministers, and party functionaries — on charges that later struggle to stand in court. Singhvi argues that by linking disqualification to custodial detention, the Centre is effectively handing central agencies the power to topple governments without facing the ballot box.

The critique stings more because the asymmetry is glaring. As Singhvi underlined, “no ruling party incumbent CM is ever touched.” If arrests themselves are the trigger for disqualification, then politics becomes less about electoral mandate and more about prosecutorial timing.

The government insists that this ensures clean governance. But critics argue it risks converting accountability into a weapon of harassment. It raises fundamental constitutional questions: should loss of office be decided by conviction after due process — or by prolonged custody, which may itself be the result of politically motivated arrests?

For now, the bills will ignite a fierce battle inside and outside Parliament. Singhvi’s intervention crystallises the anxiety of the opposition: India may be entering a phase where the jail, not the ballot box, determines who governs.

It may be noted that Singhvi had been the lead lawyer for former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who was jailed while holding the office after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED). Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren was also jailed after his arrest by the ED. Both spent months in jails. Kejriwal held the office of the Chief Minister even while he was sent to the Tihar Jail in New Delhi.

Follow The Raisina Hills on WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn