Nagaland People’s Front, the main opposition party in the state, has suspended its Rajya Sabha MP KG Kenye on Wednesday for voting in favour of the Citizenship Amendment Bill in Parliament on December 11, NDTV reported.

Kenye has reportedly contended that he supported the amended citizenship law as it granted exemption to the state under provisions of the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873. “In pursuance to the recommendation of the disciplinary action committee and in the exercise of the power conferred on me as the President of NPF…you are hereby suspended from both primary and active membership of NPF till further order,” a statement by party president Shurhozelie Liezietsu said.

Liezietsu added that Kenye will be bound by the NPF’s whip in Rajya Sabha according to the existing law and judgements of the Supreme Court. The party had sent a showcause notice to him and the Lok Sabha MP from Manipur Lorho S Pfoze after they voted in favour of the legislation in the Upper House of the Parliament, Hindustan Times reported.

Pfoze reportedly apologised to the party but Kenye tried to justify his action saying that the law may not affect Nagaland, which had the Inner Line Permit. The permit is a document that outsiders need before travelling to places defined as “protected areas” in some states in the North East. The Inner Line Permit system covers the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, most of Nagaland, Meghalaya and Tripura, Manipur and certain pockets of Assam.

However, party President Liezietsu said that Kenye’s response to the notice was an attempt to dictate terms on the party by providing his own interpretation of the Citizenship Amendment Act and “forcing the party to embrace it as the Party’s collective stand”, according to EastMojo. The statement added that Kenye’s reasoning was flimsy and not relevant as a reference to the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation 1873 and ILP in the amended citizenship law did not empower the state with “sweeping powers”.

Last month, Kenye had resigned from the position of the party’s secretary general. However, he did not quit the party.

At least 26 people died in last month’s protests against the citizenship law. Out of these, 19 people died in Uttar Pradesh, five in Assam and two in Karnataka. The Citizenship Amendment Act, approved by Parliament on December 11, provides citizenship to refugees from six minority religious communities from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan, provided they have lived in India for six years and entered the country by December 31, 2014. The Act has been widely criticised for excluding Muslims.