'No pension for MLAs who…': Himachal Government passes new bill, check what it is about

The Allowances and Pension of Members Amendment Bill, 2024 has been passed in the Himachal Pradesh Legislative Assembly. Proposed by Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu the chief minister of the state, the bill seeks to repeal pension for members under the anti-defection law.

The new bill says, “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).” This provision is meant to check the ability of some MLAs to cross over to another party with an aim of changing the composition of government.

The background to this bill emanates from the recent disqualification of six Congress MLAs namely Sudhir Sharma, Ravi Thakur, Rajinder Rana, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Chetanya Sharma and Devinder Kumar in February this year. These MLAs were expelled for cross-voting by not participating in the house during the voting of the 2024-25 budget and debates on a cut motion that resulted in their disqualification under anti-defection law.

Speaking for the bill, the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said that the bill was required to make democracy more robust and to ensure that the MLAs did not switch sides for political gains. The action is considered as the measure to defend the mandate received from the population and save the principles of democracy.

The passage of this bill has come at the right time, especially when the Himachal Pradesh government has been accused of delaying to pay salaries and pensions to the employees of the state Secretariat. The Chief Minister Sukhu has said that efforts are being made for maintaining the financial discipline. Prior to this he also said that he, ministers, CPSs and all the MLAs will defer their salaries for two months to help in tackling the financial problems.

The new bill is likely to alter the political dynamics of Himachal Pradesh as it will act as a strong warning signal to the potential defectors and would also emphasize on the party discipline and commitment towards the anti-defection law.