Assembly’s 1st session to start today with speaker election; UCC Bill on agenda

Guwahati: The first session of the 16th Assam assembly will commence on Thursday, with CM Himanta Biswa Sarma announcing on Wednesday that the state govt will introduce the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill during the session.

Sarma, who has assumed office for a second consecutive term, said Thursday’s proceedings would begin with the election of the new speaker of the Assam legislative assembly. “Tomorrow will be the first day of the assembly session, and our speaker will be elected,” he said.

An NDA delegation comprising cabinet ministers Atul Bora and Charan Boro, along with MLAs including Pijush Hazarika, on Wednesday submitted the nomination on behalf of BJP MLA Ranjeet Kumar Dass for the speaker’s election.

The CM further announced that the govt would introduce the UCC Bill during the ongoing session. “In this Assembly session, we will bring the bill and we will pass it. It was one of our commitments made long ago — that if I became CM, we would pass the UCC in the very first session. We are moving ahead in that direction,” he told reporters.

Sarma also indicated that a cabinet expansion is likely in the first week of June. “The cabinet expansion is expected to take place gradually in the first week of June,” he added.

However, the CM did not elaborate on the provisions of the proposed legislation or specify the exact date on which the bill would be tabled in the assembly.