J&K Assembly row: Opposition members stage walkout, NC to boycott session

As the House convened Tuesday, members of the Congress and NC stood up demanding a discussion on Article 35(A) that upholds the special status of the people of J&K and has been challenged in the Supreme Court.

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As Law Minister Basharat Bukhari said the matter could not be discussed in the House as it in the Supreme Court, the Opposition jumped into the Well.

The Opposition then tried to run a parallel mock session inside the Well after a legislator managed to snatch a chair from the assembly staff and asked former speaker Mubarak Gul to ‘chair the House’. The assembly marshals intervened and took away the chair.

After this, NC and Congress legislators together with Communist leader M Y Tarigami and Peoples Democratic Front legislator Hakeem Yasin walked out of the assembly, leaving the floor open for the coalition members.

As the NC members walked out, the assembly secretariat issued a notification suspending two NC legislators — Altaf Ahmad Wani and Abdul Majeed — for the rest of the session, prompting the NC to boycott rest of the session.