The Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday passed an amended bill to halt the pensions of MLAs disqualified under the anti-defection law, The Indian Express reported.
The Congress is the ruling party in the state.
The anti-defection law, introduced through a constitutional amendment in 1985, lays down the process by which legislators can be disqualified on the grounds of defection by the presiding officer of a legislature. This can be done in response to a petition by any other member of the House.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu introduced the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill, 2024. The objective of the bill is to deter MLAs from defecting to rival parties by discontinuing their pensions.
The bill comes months after six Congress MLAs were disqualified by Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Singh Pathania on February 29 under the anti-defection law, days after they cross-voted in favour of a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate in elections to the Rajya Sabha.
The six disqualified legislators, along with three Independent candidates who resigned from the Assembly, subsequently joined the BJP on March 23.
The bill passed by the Himachal Pradesh Assembly on Wednesday stated that “a person shall not be entitled to a pension under the Act if he has been disqualified at any point of time under the tenth schedule of the Constitution [anti-defection law]”.
It also includes provisions for the recovery of pensions drawn by legislators who have been disentitled under the amendment, according to The Indian Express.
A legislator who has served for a period of five years is entitled to a pension of Rs 36,000 per month, according to Section 6B of the Act. According to Section 6(e), every legislator would be given an additional pension of Rs 1,000 per month for every year in addition to the period of the first term.
The Rajya Sabha elections in February had resulted in a tie with the Congress’ Abhishek Singhvi and the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan securing 34 votes each. This indicated that the six Congress MLAs and three Independents had voted for Mahajan.
After the tie, Mahajan was declared the winner based on a draw of lots, as per stipulated procedure.