Bhopal, March 28 (IANS) Can legislators forego watching the India-Pakistan cricket World Cup semifinal? Not in Madhya Pradesh, where the post-lunch session of the assembly Wednesday has been cancelled and a special screening of the match arranged for the legislators.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Narottam Mishra told Speaker Ishwar Das Rohani Monday that the entire nation would be watching the match and they should not be left out.

"We wish that the post-lunch session of the assembly should not be held Wednesday to allow members to see the crucial match," he said.

The plea was supported by the opposition too, with Leader of Opposition Choudhary Rakesh Singh (Congress), and his party colleagues Arif Aqueel and Kalpana Parulekar seconding it.

Rohani then announced that the post-lunch session would not be held Wednesday. The speaker also gave directions for putting up a mega-screen in the assembly auditorium where members would be able to watch the match.

The cricket fever was not limited to legislators.

With the annual budget of Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) scheduled to be presented Wednesday, the ward commissioners demanded that the proceedings be stretched to two days and arrangements made for them to see the match.

"We have demanded president Kailash Mishra make the budget procedure a two-day process and also arrange a big screen so the ward commissioners could watch the match along with the budget proceedings," said ward commissioner Shabista Jaki.