Panaji, March 18 MLAs from the Congress, AAP, and the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP) in Goa met Governor P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju on Wednesday to protest the shortened budget session and demanded that the assembly be reconvened.
The budget session was shortened on Monday following the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct for the April 9 by-election to the Ponda assembly constituency in South Goa district, necessitated due to the death of sitting BJP MLA Ravi Naik.
The session, which began on March 6, was originally scheduled to continue until March 27.
Before the session was adjourned, the state budget was passed in the House.
The opposition has alleged that by shortening the session, the government deprived Goans of their right to accountability.
A delegation of opposition members, including Leader of the Opposition Yuri Alemao, AAP legislators Venzy Viegas and Cruz Silva, and RGP MLA Viresh Borkar, met the governor at Lok Bhavan on Wednesday morning.
Speaking to reporters outside the governor's house, Alemao said that assemblies in Maharashtra and Odisha are in session, where by-elections have also been announced.
"Are we not part of India? Are we not following the Constitution of India?" the Congress leader asked.
The BJP-led government shortened the assembly to avoid the passage of private members' bills, which were meant to stop the sale of land and also conserve nature, he alleged.
"We have asked the governor to summon the assembly session again under Article 175 of the Constitution. If the government refuses, then the governor has a right to dismiss the government under section 356 (1) of the Constitution," he said.
RGP MLA Borkar said he has already written to the Chief Election Commissioner, seeking to clarify whether the assembly session needs to be shortened following the imposition of the Model Code of Conduct.
The opposition members were often marshalled out of the assembly whenever they protested against the "authoritarian" behaviour of the government, he claimed.
AAP legislator Viegas said that if the governor does not accept the demand for a special session of the assembly, then the opposition members will be forced to petition President Droupadi Murmu, seeking her intervention in the matter.