Overview
- The Himachal Pradesh Assembly, which passed the pension amendment on Thursday, now awaits the Governor’s assent before it can take effect.
- The bill amends the 1971 allowances and pension law to bar any MLA disqualified under the Constitution’s Tenth Schedule, the anti-defection rule for defying a party whip, from receiving pension.
- The government says the change applies to the current 14th Assembly and future ones, leaving first-term ex-MLAs Chaitanya Sharma and Devendra Kumar Bhutto without pension for this term while multi-term members keep earlier entitlements.
- BJP leaders called the move targeted and legally weak, as ministers and the Speaker insisted it is a prospective deterrent to party-switching and not a punitive, retrospective step.
- The financial note says there is no extra cost to the state, and the push follows the 2024 Rajya Sabha cross-vote that led to six Congress MLAs being disqualified.