However, all hell broke loose in Parliament on Monday 2 pm as the Bill, seeking to amend the Constitution to reserve 33 per cent seats for women in state Assemblies and the Lok Sabha and originally introduced in 2008, was introduced afresh by Law Minister Veerappa Moily.

The Rajya Sabha, where the Bill was tabled, witnessed unprecedented unruly behaviour, with RJD and SP MPs trying to snatch papers from Vice-President and Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari’s hands, breaking the mikes on his table and an MP climbing atop the Parliament note-taker’s desk. Six adjournments and much chaos later, a decision on the fate of the Bill was put off for Tuesday.

After the sixth and final adjournment, Moily said: “This is a revolutionary Bill, and it cannot be bulldozed through. There should be discussions... and Parliament should debate it... The bill is now the property of Parliament, it has been listed for tomorrow.”

The battlelines clearly drawn, with the UPA, BJP and Left supporting the Bill, SP members Nand Kishore Yadav and Kamal Akhtar and RJD member Rajniti Prasad grabbed papers from Ansari’s table and tore them. They tried to snatch the papers from Ansari’s hand too, but were stopped by the two guards standing beside the Vice-President. However, they succeeded in breaking two of the three microphones in front of Ansari. They also tore up the copies of the reservation Bill in the well of the House.

Akhtar climbed on the parliamentary note-taker’s desk and sraered walking on the files and papers of the parliamentary staff who record proceedings.

In the Lok Sabha, SP member Mithilesh Kumar climbed on a stool kept in front of the Speaker’s podium as his party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and RJD leader Lalu Prasad Yadav made frantic efforts to get the House adjourned.

Ansari first adjourned the House till 3 pm. His wary staff used the interlude to remove all stationery items like pen-stands, paperweights etc from his as well as Secretary General and note-taker’s desks. They even considered removing the glass top from Rajya Sabha Secretary General V K Agnihotri’s table, but finally settled for putting away just the electronic watch on his table.

Before 3 pm, Parliament’s security chief, Additional Commissioner of Police Sanjay Singh, brought in over a dozen guards and lined them up around the Chairman’s seat.

At 3 pm, P J Kurien, one of the members on the panel of vice-chairmen, occupied the Chair only to announce adjournment of the House till 4 pm.

Tension, drama and suspense filled the air as the day rolled by. The voting on the Bill — technically known as the Constitution (108th Amendment) Bill, 2008 — was slated for 6 pm. Minus a discussion, of course. Suddenly, the script changed. Votaries of the Bill such as the BJP, CPM, CPI and Telugu Desam told Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at a meeting called at short notice that passing a major constitutional amendment without order in the House and without a proper discussion would set a bad precedent.

“We support the Bill, but we want the Government to follow parliamentary procedure,” CPI leader D Raja told The Indian Express. The Prime Minister also met Mulayam, Lalu and BSP leader Satish Mishra.

At 6 pm, as everybody waited for the House to re-assemble, BJP’s deputy leader of Opposition walked in and gestured to his MPs that the Bill was deferred for the next day. Minutes later, Kurien came and adjourned till 11 am on Tuesday. This was met by slogans of “shame-shame” by the Left and BJP members.

If the staunchest opponents of the Bill, Mulayam and Lalu, announced withdrawal of support to the UPA during the day, the JD(U) saw a vertical split. Party members in the Rajya Sabha — who owe their seats to Nitish Kumar, who has backed the Bill — seemed inclined to vote for it; while the bulk of its Lok Sabha members were against it. “Let the party break if it has to on this issue,” a Lok Sabha member close to JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, who opposes the Bill, said.