India's lower house of parliament suspended its session scheduled for Monday after protests from lawmakers over the stripping of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi from his seat.
Gandhi was stripped of his seat in the House of Representatives last Friday after being convicted in a court in the western state of Gujarat for insulting Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the context of the 2019 election campaign.
Gandhi said in a statement at the time that "all thieves are called Modi."
On Monday, opposition lawmakers wore black shirts and scarves and worked to disrupt a session of parliament, prompting Speaker Om Birla to postpone the discussions.
"I want to conduct the session with dignity, I postponed the discussions" until later, Perla said.
Parliament ruled on Friday that Gandhi could no longer retain his seat after being convicted the day before, and a court in Gujarat, Modi's home state, sentenced him to two years in prison for a statement he made during the 2019 election campaign.
But Gandhi was released on bail after his lawyers announced their intention to appeal the ruling.
Rahul Gandhi, leader of the Indian Congress Party (Reuters)
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On Saturday, the opposition leader said he would continue to defend democracy after attributing the loss of his seat to calls for an investigation into links between Modi and businessman Gautam Adani, who is accused of fraud.
Modi has for decades had a close relationship with Adani, whose business empire turned attention this year after a U.S. investment firm accused it of "brazen" commercial fraud.
Rahul Gandhi, 52, is the leader of the Congress Party, which has lost weight in the country after dominating India's political life for its historic role in liberation from British colonialism.
Gandhi comes from the family of India's first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and three members of this family headed India's governments.
But the Congress has struggled to challenge the electoral power of Modi's nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its Hindu majority.