The Bihar legislature’s monsoon session began on a subdued note on Monday with the leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Tejashwi Prasad Yadav, skipping the proceedings.

However, MLAs belonging to the Opposition Mahagathbandhan demonstrated outside the Assembly building to protest the deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

Participating in the protest, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), Congress and CPI-ML legislators pointed to the spiralling crime graph. They also added several cases of collapse of bridges and culverts in the state.

“Chief minister Nitish Kumar is unable to handle the home department. The law and order system is crumbling. Heinous crimes are happening in the state and the criminals are roaming around fearlessly. On the other hand, bridges are collapsing due to corruption. Nitish should clarify on these two issues in the Assembly, or else we will not allow it to function,” CPI-ML MLA Mehboob Alam said.

The state government also introduced six Bills in the Assembly, including Bihar Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Bill, Bihar Goods and Services Bill, Bihar Lift and Escalator Bill, Bihar School Examination Board (Amendment) Bill, Bihar State University Service Commission (Amendment) Bill and Bihar Municipality (Amendment) Bill.

The bi-cameral legislature is expected to pass these bills during the five-day monsoon session.

Meanwhile, deputy chief minister–cum–finance minister Samrat Choudhary tabled the first supplementary budget of ₹47,512 crore for the financial year 2024-25 in the Assembly.

The supplementary budget allocates ₹8,550 crore as state share in the education sector, while ₹2,098 crore will be spent on the construction of roads and bridges.

Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav administered oath to newly elected Independent MLA Shankar Singh from the Rupauli Assembly constituency. He also condoled the demise of 10 former MLAs, including senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushil Kumar Modi.