Eighteen MLAs of the Bharatiya Janata Party were suspended from the Jharkhand Assembly on Thursday for disrupting the proceedings of the House, PTI reported.

Assembly Speaker Rabindra Nath Mahto suspended them till 2 pm on Friday.

On Wednesday, the Opposition MLAs were protesting against Chief Minister Hemant Soren for allegedly not replying to their questions in the House. They were removed from the Assembly by the marshals after they refused to leave the chamber, according to PTI.

Several BJP MLAs spent the night in the Assembly lobby after they were removed from the House.

On Thursday, the BJP legislators stormed into the well of the House before the session started and shouted slogans demanding Soren’s resignation, The Hindu reported.

The speaker said that the Assembly ethics committee will investigate the matter and submit a report to him within a week.

BJP legislators said that the speaker, acting on the orders of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led government, had “murdered” democracy, PTI reported.

Leader of Opposition Amar Kumar Bauri said that the suspension of the BJP MLAs showed that the state government had become dictatorial.

“We requested the government to reply to questions on issues related to the people,” PTI quoted Bauri as saying. “What happened is an attempt to suppress the voice of Opposition MLAs.”

The BJP legislator said that the public was “watching all” and that they would give a “befitting reply” to the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

Assembly elections in Jharkhand are scheduled to take place later this year.