Rajasthan govt to send a revised proposal to Governor requesting for Assembly session
Jaipur: The Rajasthan Cabinet is likely to meet again on Saturday to revise a proposal to be sent to Governor Kalraj Mishra requesting him to convene a session of the Assembly.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, facing a revolt by some Congress MLAs led by Sachin Pilot, chaired a meeting of the Cabinet on Friday night to discuss the points raised by the governor on its earlier proposal.
"Discussions on the points raised by the governor with regard to calling the Assembly session were held in the meeting last night," a source said, adding that the Cabinet is likely to meet again on Saturday.
A revised proposal will be forwarded to the governor after approval by the Cabinet.
The Congress government is pushing for a session of the Assembly so that the chief minister can prove his majority on the floor of the House after the Rajasthan High Court on Friday ordered that status quo should be maintained on the disqualification notices sent out by the Speaker to Pilot and 18 other MLAs.
The Governor on Friday asked the Ashok Gehlot government why it wanted to call an Assembly session to secure a vote of confidence if it already had the majority.
The governor posed the query in a six-point questionnaire entailing a note sent by the Raj Bhawan to the state Parliament Affairs Department, the Raj Bhawan said in a statement.
In his note to the state government, Governor Mishra emphasised that no one is above the Constitutional dignity and no pressure politics should be resorted to.
He also pointed out that neither had any date for convening the session been mentioned in the Cabinet note, annexed with the government's request, nor had the Cabinet given its approval to it.
The government has neither given any reason for calling the session on such a short notice nor proposed any agenda for it, said the governor, pointing out that a 21-day notice is mandatory for calling an Assembly session.
In the statement, the Raj Bhawan added that Governor Mishra had also asked the government to ensure the independence and freedom of movement of all members of the legislative assembly .
On Friday, the chief minister said that a letter was forwarded to the governor on Thursday night for calling the session, but he had not taken any decision on it.
Congress MLAs loyal to Gehlot on Friday held a five-hour sit-in at the Raj Bhawan to press for an Assembly session.
The Congress said it ended the sit-in following an assurance from the Governor that he will abide by Article 174 of the Constitution, after getting some clarifications from the CM. The provision deals with the Governor's role in summoning a session of the assembly.
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Uttarakhand Assembly passes censure motion against opposition over women's reservation bill
Dehradun (PTI): The Uttarakhand Assembly passed a censure motion against the Congress and other opposition parties on Tuesday for allegedly blocking the passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, in Parliament.
The motion, which expressed the House's formal disapproval of the opposition's conduct, triggered a massive uproar by Congress members, leading to the adjournment of the House sine die.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Subodh Uniyal moved the censure motion, citing the "uncooperative attitude" of opposition parties toward the bill seeking 33 per cent reservation for women in legislative bodies.
Addressing a special daylong session convened specifically to discuss "Nari Samman -- Rights in Democracy", Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said the bill's passage would have benefitted every political party.
Dhami noted that after delimitation, the number of Assembly seats in the hill state would have gone up to 105, with 35 reserved for women. He added that the number of Lok Sabha seats from Uttarakhand would have risen from five to seven or eight.
"The opposition fears that if women from ordinary households enter politics, the shops of dynastic politics run by certain parties will shut down," the chief minister claimed.
He compared the opposition's conduct in Parliament to the assembly in Mahabharat where Draupadi was insulted. Dhami further likened the opposition's behaviour to the "arrogance of Ravan".
The chief minister highlighted his government's initiatives, asserting that Uttarakhand was the first state to implement a Uniform Civil Code (UCC) to protect women's rights. He said the UCC freed Muslim women from practices like "halala", "iddat", polygamy and child marriage.
Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya questioned the technical feasibility of the bill, calling the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) claims of providing reservation by 2029 "misleading".
He argued that the bill is linked to census and delimitation processes. The Congress leader said the 2026 census would conclude by 2027 and the final data publication would take two more years.
"The delimitation process will take another six years. The actual implementation of this bill is not possible before 2034," Arya said, describing the move as a strategy to protect the BJP's "political ground".
The session also saw high drama outside the Assembly gates, where Congress MLA Virendra Jati staged a protest, demanding the payment of "outstanding" dues to farmers by sugar mills.
Jati arrived at the Assembly's main gate with a tractor-trolley loaded with sugarcane and dumped it on the road. The move brought the traffic to a halt, prompting traffic and security personnel to intervene and clear the area.
Women Congress workers also staged a demonstration against the "anti-people policies" of the state government.
