New Delhi, Mar 24 (PTI) AAP MLAs staged a walkout in the Delhi Assembly on the first day of the budget session to protest Speaker Vijender Gupta's decision to skip the name of one of its legislators during a discussion under Rule 280, citing repetition of the matter.

Under Rule 280, MLAs are allowed to raise issues concerning their constituencies. However, when the speaker bypassed an AAP legislator, the party's other MLAs, led by Leader of Opposition Atishi, raised their voices in protest before walking out of the Assembly.

Terming the action by AAP MLAs a "strategic disruption", the speaker warned the opposition members against forcing him to take action. He also remarked, "In some time, the CAG report is about to be tabled. I think the opposition doesn't like that." The BJP-led government is set to table the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) later in the day.

Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, who also holds the finance portfolio, will present the first budget of the BJP government in over 26 years on Tuesday. The BJP returned to power in Delhi last month after defeating AAP in the Assembly elections.

The five-day budget session commenced in the morning with a "kheer" ceremony. PTI MHS MHS NSD NSD

Rule 280 constituency rights breached; opposition staged walkout after MLA was bypassed, as an audit report and budget loom. An opposition party staged a walkout after the Speaker exercised discretion to bypass an MLA seeking to raise a constituency matter under Rule 280, citing repetition; the Speaker described the action as a strategic disruption and warned of consequences. The session also featured the imminent tabling of a Comptroller and Auditor General report on a public transport body and the forthcoming presentation of the government budget by the finance-holding Chief Minister, set against a recent change in government.