No pension for defected MLAs in Himachal Pradesh as assembly passes new bill

NEW DELHI: Himachal Pradesh assembly on Wednesday passed a bill to revoke the pension benefit of those state legislators who have been disqualified under the anti-defection law.
The Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, 2024 was passed after discussion in the House.
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)".
"They want to gain political benefits through such corrupt practices. This Bill was essential to be introduced to strengthen democracy. Our assembly passed it today through voice vote," Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu told news agency ANI after the bill was passed.
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, reported news agency PTI.
Earlier on February 29, assembly speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania had under the anti-defection law disqualified six Congress MLAs who had cross-voted for the BJP in the Rajya Sabha elections.
The Congress government in the state had to grapple with a crisis as its strength had reduced to 34 legislators.
These included Rajinder Singh Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Chaitanya Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Davinder Bhutto and Ravi Thakur. But later in the Vidhan Sabha bypoll, the ruling Congress’s strength again reached to 40 in the House against the 28 Opposition BJP legislators.