Chandigarh, May 28 -- Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Haryana assembly, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, told Vidhan Sabha Speaker Harvinder Kalyan that the April 27 decision of the Congress MLAs to hold a mock assembly session outside the House chamber must be viewed as a democratic expression of their stand. The Congress MLAs had stayed away from the one-day special Haryana assembly session on April 27, primarily convened by the BJP government with an intent to politically target the Opposition on the women's reservation issue. The Congress lawmakers, led by Hooda, boycotted the special session and instead held a parallel session outside the House chamber, prompting the Speaker to seek a clarification from Hooda. The Speaker in a April 28 communication had sought an explanation from Hooda on three aspects - Congress allegations about the alleged unconstitutionality of a duly organised assembly session, allegation that the official resolution on Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was unconstitutional and holding of a parallel mock session in the parking lot of the assembly without Speaker's permission. In his May 5 reply to the Speaker, Hooda who is the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader said at no point was there any intention to undermine the authority or dignity of the House. "We have never said that the proceedings of the Vidhan Sabha session were unconstitutional. Kindly appreciate the distinction between convening session and conducting proceedings of the assembly,'' Hooda said in his response. Explaining the need to boycott the special session, the LoP in his communication said that the Congress had raised questions on the constitutionality of convening the special session on certain grounds. The communication said the subject matter of neither the reservation of seats in Parliament or state legislatures nor the process of delimitation is within the competence of Haryana legislature. "These matters are within the jurisdiction of the Parliament. When the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was unanimously passed by the Parliament in 2023, and notified on April 16, 2026, then what was the purpose of the official resolution purportedly brought on this issue in the state assembly," the CLP leader's communication said. "Was it not merely to criticise the Opposition,'' Hooda wrote. The former chief minister said that the official resolution on Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam was neither mentioned during the meeting of the business advisory committee (BAC) of the assembly nor in the list of business. "That's why Congress MLAs decided to boycott the session to preserve the sanctity of the Constitution," he said. "Haryana assembly as per the spirit and tenets of the Constitution cannot and should not criticise the members of Lok Sabha for the way or the manner in which they have voted. It is a clear breach of their privileges that the Haryana assembly has committed by convening the special session on the functioning of Lok Sabha MPs,'' Hooda wrote. Thus, the convening of the special session allegedly on the dictates of the BJP central leadership was unconstitutional, the CLP leader wrote. Hooda said every citizen in a democracy has a right to protest in a peaceful manner. There have been precedents when the Opposition held demonstrations outside the Haryana assembly chamber. The CLP leader has asked the Speaker to preserve the dignity and sovereignty of the august House as its constitutional custodian, requesting him to withdraw the letter and close the matter....