A special session of the Vidhan Sabha was called by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government of Punjab on Thursday. The session came a day after the Governor of Punjab had withdrawn his order to convene a special session of the assembly, citing legal reasons. Furious over the move, the AAP-led Mann government’s 92 MLAs decided to take out a peace march from the MLA assembly to Punjab Raj Bhavan.
After the peace march, the Punjab Cabinet approved a recommendation to the Governor for the summoning of the third session of the 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha on September 27 (Tuesday). A decision to this effect was taken by the Council of Ministers in its meeting chaired by the Chief Minister here at the Chief Minister’s Office in Punjab Civil Secretariat- I.
A spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said, “As per clause (1) of Article 174 of the Constitution of India, the Governor is authorised to summon the state legislature to meet at such time and place, as he thinks fit. However, there should not be a time gap of more than six months between two sessions of the State Legislative Assembly. The 2nd (Budget) Session of the 16th Punjab Vidhan Sabha was concluded on 30 June 2022, so the Cabinet has recommended convening the 3rd Session of the Assembly on 27 September 2022. “
Earlier in the day on Thursday, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann called a meeting in Chandigarh at 9 a.m. At the same time, CM Mann called a cabinet meeting at 10.30 a.m. in the Punjab Secretariat.
Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal also tweeted on the cancellation of the special session of the assembly and questioned how the Governor could refuse the special session called by the Punjab cabinet, terming it the death of democracy. He claimed that the Governor gave permission for the session two days ago. “When Operation Lotus started failing and the numbers were not completed, a call came from above asking to withdraw the permission. Today, the country has a constitution on the one hand and Operation Lotus on the other hand,” he tweeted.