Shimla, April 10 (IANS) In a setback to the Congress-led Himachal Pradesh government, the High Court has directed the legislative Assembly to release pension and arrears of two former disqualified Congress MLAs — Rajinder Rana and Ravi Thakur — who later joined the BJP.

Rana and Thakur, elected from Sujanpur and Lahaul-Spiti, respectively, were disqualified for violating the party whip during the voting for the lone Rajya Sabha seat in February 2024, in which Congress candidate Abhishek Manu Singhvi lost to BJP’s Harsh Mahajan. They re-contested from their respective Assembly seats as BJP candidates but faced defeat.

Both Rajya Sabha candidates — Mahajan and Singhvi — secured 34 votes each in the 68-member House that comprised three Independent legislators who were believed to have voted in favour of the BJP. Mahajan was eventually declared the winner through a draw of lots. He had won the seat after six Congress MLAs cross-voted in the polls.

Later, the seats of six Congress legislators from Dharamsala, Lahaul-Spiti, Sujanpur, Barsar, Gagret and Kutlehar fell vacant after the party disqualified its sitting MLAs. They were Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur, and Chetanya Sharma.

Responding to the High Court judgment of April 7, BJP spokesperson Ashish Sharma on Friday said the court’s decision unequivocally established that laws cannot be framed or applied with retrospective intent to penalise individuals, but must operate prospectively in accordance with constitutional principles.

The High Court directed that eligible former MLAs be paid their pension along with arrears within one month, failing which the state would be liable to pay interest at the rate of six per cent per annum.

Calling the verdict a “slap on the face of the government,” Sharma stated: “The Congress government attempted to weaponise legislation for political retribution. The court has now made it clear that laws are meant for the future, not for settling political scores.”

He said the earlier amendment brought by the state in 2024, aimed at denying pension benefits to disqualified MLAs under the Tenth Schedule (Anti-Defection Law), was inherently flawed and politically motivated. The government was eventually compelled to withdraw that legislation and introduce a revised Bill in 2026, limiting its applicability only to members elected from the 14th legislative Assembly onwards.

“This itself is an admission that the earlier move was unconstitutional and driven by vendetta,” Sharma added.

The BJP alleged that for nearly two years, former legislators were subjected to undue harassment, both financial and mental, by withholding their legitimate pension benefits, forcing them to seek judicial intervention.

–IANS

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