Punjab Governor cancels Assembly session called by AAP govt

Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit on Wednesday withdrew an order by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government to convene a special Assembly session on Thursday. The session was called by the state government to pass a confidence motion.

The Governor withdrew the order due to “absence of specific rules” to do so.

Reacting to the incident, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal termed it a murder of democracy.

"How can the governor refuse a session called by the cabinet? Then democracy is over. Two days ago, the Governor gave permission for the session. When Operation Lotus started failing and the number was



not reached, a call came from above asking to withdraw permission. Today the country has a constitution on one side and Operation Lotus on the other," Kejriwal said in a tweet.

On Tuesday, the Punjab cabinet approved the summoning of a special session of the Assembly. Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann had earlier announced that a special session of the Assembly would be convened, days after the ruling AAP accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of trying to topple its government in Punjab.

The ruling party had recently claimed that at least 10 of its MLAs were approached by the BJP with an offer of Rs 25 crore each in a bid to topple the six-month-old government.