Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday introduced in Lok Sabha a bill to ensure the removal of elected representatives arrested or detained on serious criminal charges from office.
According to the Constitution, only public representatives who have been convicted could be removed from office. The key bills, therefore, are constitutional amendment bills - the articles involved are Articles 75, 164 and 239AA.
Only the President and state governors are immune from civil and criminal proceedings as long they hold their office. A sitting Chief Minister can be arrested if an investigating agency has enough reason to take such action.
The guiding principle has been constitutional morality and political convention. Former Bihar CM Lalu Prasad Yadav resigned after his conviction in the fodder scam but ensured his wife was installed as his successor.
However, former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and Tamil Nadu minister V Senthil Balaji had not resigned from their posts ever after their arrests on different charges.
Here are instances of chief ministers facing corruption charges.
Arvind Kejriwal (Delhi)
Arvind Kejriwal became the first serving Chief Minister to be arrested. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in the excise policy case and spent several weeks in jail. Though released on interim bail for electioneering, his continued custodial spells paralysed the Delhi government.
Hemant Soren (Jharkhand)
Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) leader Hemant Soren was arrested by the ED on January 31, 2024, in connection with a money laundering probe into an alleged land scam in his state. Ahead of his arrest, Soren had resigned and the party chose senior minister Champai Soren as the next CM.
J Jayalalithaa (Tamil Nadu)
In 2014, then Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa was convicted in a disproportionate assets case by a Bengaluru court. She was forced to step down and O Paneerselvam was sworn in as chief minister. Later in 2015, the Karnataka high court acquitted her.
Lalu Prasad (Bihar)
Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad was named in the CBI chargesheet in the fodder scam for the first time in 1997. After pressure from the opposition, he was forced to resign and declared his wife Rabri Devi as the CM.
Madhu Koda (Jharkhand)
Madhu Koda, the youngest chief minister of Jharkhand who ran the state from 2006 to 2008, was arrested in 2009 after the ED found discrepancies in his finances.
Chandrababu Naidu (Andhra Pradesh)
Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu was arrested last year in a skill development case. The arrest took place in the case pertaining to an alleged multi-crore skill development corporation scam during his stint as CM.
Om Prakash Chautala (Haryana)
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) chief Om Prakash Chautala, the son of former deputy prime minister Chaudhary Devi Lal, was convicted in 2022 for amassing assets disproportionate to his known lawful sources of income, in his name and in the names of his family members during his tenure as chief minister from July 24, 1999, to March 5, 2005.
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