Himachal Assembly passes Bill, bars defected MLAs from receiving pension

The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday passed a Bill which will bar the members of the House who are disqualified under Tenth Schedule of the Constitution (anti-defection law) from drawing pension.

The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members (Amendment) Bill, 2024 will affect six former Congress MLAs, who were disqualified by the Speaker for defying the whip and abstaining from the House during discussion on cut motions and passing of Budget in February.

The opposition BJP objected to the Bill stating that it smacks of "political revenge" and it cannot be implemented with retrospective effect.

The six former MLAs who will be impacted due to the Bill are Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Rajinder Rana, Devinder Kumar Bhutto, Chetanya Sharma and Ravi Thakur. All of them had voted in favour of the BJP nominee Harsh Mahajan during the Rajya Sabha elections held in February.

All six had contested the bypolls on BJP tickets earlier this year. While