Himachal Pradesh Assembly passes bill to revoke pensions of MLAs who defect

The Himachal Pradesh assembly passed a bill on Wednesday to revoke the pensions of MLAs who have been disqualified under the anti-defection law. This decision follows the introduction of the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill 2024 by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu the previous day.

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-defection 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.

(with agency inputs)