Himachal Pradesh Assembly Passes Bill To Revoke Pensions Of Disqualified MLAs

New Delhi: The Himachal Pradesh assembly Wednesday passed a bill to revoke the pensions of disqualified MLAs under the anti-defection law. The legislation was aimed at revoking the pensions of six former Congress MLAs who were disqualified. The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill 2024 was introduced by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.

According to the bill, "A person shall not be entitled for pension under the Act, if he has been disqualified at any point of time under the tenth schedule of the Constitution (anti-defecation law)".

Six Congress MLAs -- Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar -- were disqualified in February this year under the anti-defection law for defying a party whip by abstaining from the house during the passing of the budget for 2024-25 and discussions on a cut motion.

Sudhir Sharma and Inder Dutt Lakhanpal later returned to the house after winning bypolls, but the four others lost their reelection bid.

These six Congress MLAs had voted in favour of BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan in the Rajya Sabha elections held on February 27 this year.

The statement of object and reasons of the proposed amendment says the bill was needed as there was no provision in the 1971 Act to discourage the defection of members, deter them from committing constitutional sins, protect the mandate given by people and preserve democratic values.