Bhopal, Apr 27 (PTI) Congress legislators staged a walkout during a one-day special session of the Madhya Pradesh assembly on Monday, protesting the Speaker’s refusal to accept their private bill seeking immediate implementation of 33 per cent reservation for women.
The walkout occurred minutes after Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar declined to take up the Opposition’s bill, ruling that a government resolution on the issue — scheduled to be moved by Chief Minister Mohan Yadav — had already been listed.
The BJP-led state government convened a special session to deliberate on women’s reservation, which has emerged as a key national issue.
As the chief minister rose to move the government resolution on implementing women’s reservation after delimitation, Leader of Opposition Umang Singhar immediately raised a point of order.
Singhar said the Congress wanted an immediate discussion and enforcement of the Women’s Reservation Act passed by Parliament in 2023.
Speaker Tomar then asked Singhar to allow the Leader of the House to present the proposal, stating that a ruling would follow.
Congress members insisted their private bill be taken up, asserting that it had been submitted in time.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kailash Vijayvargiya and senior BJP MLA Sitasharan Sharma argued that under rules and convention, a government proposal takes precedence over a private bill.
Former Leader of Opposition Bala Bachchan backed Singhar, leading to heated exchanges between the treasury and Opposition benches.
After order was restored, the Speaker ruled in favour of taking up the government resolution, following which Congress members staged a walkout.
The Opposition later raised slogans in the assembly premises.
A Constitution Amendment Bill to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats was defeated in the Lower House on April 17. While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of the 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
The bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to a maximum of 850 from the current 543 to “operationalise” the women’s reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census data. PTI LAL MAS ARU
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