Himachal Assembly passes Bill to stop pension of MLAs disqualified for defection

Himachal Pradesh on Wednesday passed a new Bill to stop the pensions of members disqualified under the anti-defection law in an unprecedented move.

The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill 2024 was introduced in the Assembly on Tuesday 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-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.

With PTI inputs