Assam Legislative Assembly

Assam Legislative Assembly অসম বিধান সভা
13th Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker of the Assembly	Ranjeet Kumar Dass, BJP Since 01-06-2016
Deputy Speaker	TBA, TBA Since 2016
Chief Minister	Sarbananda Sonowal, BJP Since 2016
Leader of Opposition	Debabrata Saikia, INC Since 2016
Structure
Seats	126
250px
Political groups	NDA (86)      BJP (60)      AGP (14)      BPF (12)
Political groups	Opposition      INC (26)      AIUDF (13)      Independent (1)
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	4 and 11 April 2016
Meeting place
Assam Legislative Assembly House, Dispur, Guwahati - 781006.
Website
http://www.assamassembly.nic.in

The Assam Legislative Assembly (Assamese: অসম বিধানসভা) is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Dispur, the capital of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The Legislative Assembly comprises 126 Members of Legislative Assembly, directly elected from single-seat constituencies. Its term is five years, unless sooner dissolved.

History

According to provisions of the Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature of Assam province came into existence in 1937. After the Government of India Act 1935 was passed, it paved the way for the formation of Assam Legislative Assembly, and became a bicameral legislature. The strength of the House was 108, where all the members were elected. The Legislative Council (Upper House) was not less than 21 and not more than 22 members.

The first sitting of its lower house, the Assam Legislative Assembly, took place on 7 April 1937 in the Assembly Chamber at Shillong. Shillong was the capital of the composite State of Assam. It had a strength of 108 members.

However, the strength of the Assembly was reduced to 71 after the partition of India. After Indian independence in 1947, the Assam Legislative Council was abolished and Assam Legislative Assembly became unicameral.

In the years that followed, Assam was truncated to several smaller states. And over the years, with the changing geographical boundaries and increase in population, the strength of members has changed from 108 in 1952-57 to 114 in 1967-72 (the third Assembly) and by 1972-78 (the fifth Assembly) it had a strength of 126 members.

Speakers of the Legislative Assembly

The following is a list of the speakers of the Assam Legislative Assembly:

Assam Province

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Political Party
1	Babu Basanta Kumar Das	7 April 1937	11 March 1946
2	Debeswar Sarmah	12 March 1946	10 October 1947
3	Laksheswar Borooah	5 November 1947	3 March 1952	congress

During Assam Movement

Many rounds of direct talks with government failed. The 1983 general election of state legislative assembly and by-election to 12 parliamentary constituencies were boycotted. The agitation turned violent. Tens of peoples were brutally killed by police firings. The number of people killed by the government forces touched several hundreds. One of the incident had a very lasting impact on people's mind was the Nellie Massacre in which thousands of people died.

Ministers sworn on 24 May 2016

Main article: Government of Assam

See also

• Assam Legislative Assembly election, 2011
• Assam Legislative Assembly election, 2016

External links

• Assam Legislative Assembly website

#	Name	Took office	Left office	Political Party
1	Kuladhar Chaliha	5 March 1952	7 June 1957
2	Dev Kant Barooah	8 June 1957	15 September 1959
3	Mahendra Mohan Choudhury	9 December 1959	19 March 1967
4	Hareswar Goswami	20 March 1967	10 May 1968
5	Mahi Kanta Das	27 August 1968	21 March 1972
6	Ramesh Chandra Barooah	22 March 1972	20 March 1978
7	Jogendra Nath Hazarika	21 March 1978	4 September 1979
8	Sheikh Chand Mohammad	7 November 1979	7 January 1986
9	Pulakesh Barua	9 January 1986	27 July 1991
10	Jiba Kanta Gogoi	29 July 1991	9 December 1992
11	Debesh Chandra Chakravorty	21 December 1992	11 June 1996
12	Ganesh Kutum	12 June 1996	24 May 2001	Asom Gana Parishad
13	Prithibi Majhi	30 May 2001	19 May 2006	Indian National Congress
14	Tanka Bahadur Rai	29 May 2006		Indian National Congress
15	Pranab Kumar Gogoi	6 June 2011	19 May 2016	Indian National Congress
16	Ranjeet Kumar Dass	01 June 2016		Bharatiya Janata Party