ASSAM LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY: OVER THE YEARS
First Assam Legislative Assembly
First Assam Legislative Assembly was held on April 7, 1937 in the Assembly Chamber at Shillong.
Speakers of Assam Province
Babu Basanta Kumar Das: 7 April 1937 to 11 March 1946 Debeswar Sarma: 12 March 1946 to 10 October 1947 Lakeshwar Barooah: 5 November 1947 to 3 March 1952
Speakers of Assam State
Kuladhar Chaliha: 9 March 1952 to 7 June 1957 (Indian National Congress) Devakanta Baruah: 8 June 1957 to 15 September 1959 (Indian National Congress)
Mahendra Mohan Choudhury: 9 December 1959 to 19 March 1967 (Indian National Congress) Hareswar Goswami: 20 March 1967 to 10 May 1968 (Indian National Congress) Mahi Kanta Das: 27 August 1968 to 21 March 1972 (Indian National Congress)
Ramesh Chandra Borooah: 22 March 1972 to 20 March 1978 Jogendra Nath Hazarika: 21 March 1978 to 4 September 1979 (Janata Party) Sheikh Chand Mohammad: 7 November 1979 to 7 January 1986 (Indian National Congress)
Pulakesh Barua: 9 January 1986 to 27 July 1991 (Asom Gana Parishad) Jiba Kanta Gogoi: 29 July 1991 to 9 December 1992 (Indian National Congress) Debesh Chandra Chakravorty: 21 December 1992 to 11 June 1996 (Indian National Congress)
Ganesh Kutum: 12 June 1996 to 24 May 2001 (Asom Gana Parishad) Prithibi Majhi: 30 May 2001 to 19 May 2006 (Indian National Congress) Tanka Bahadur Rai: 29 May 2006 to 19 May 2011 (Indian National Congress)
Pranab Kumar Gogoi: 6 June 2011 to 19 May 2016 (Indian National Congress) Ranjit Kumar Das: 1 June 2016 to 30 January 2017 (Bharatiya Janata Party)
In 1905, under the Indian Council Act, 1861 Assam did not have Assembly. It tagged with East Bengal and called “Legislative Council of Bengal and Assam”. It started functioning from Dec 18, 1906. In 1912, Assam became a province under the Chief Commissioner. In 1913, Assam was granted the Legislative Council under the Government of India Act, 1909. The Assembly comprised of 34 members -- 13 nominated by Chief Commissioner and 21 were elected members.
The strength of members was again raised to 53, under the Government of India Act, 1919, of which 41 were elected and 12 members were nominated by the Chief Commissioner. First Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly was Babu Basanta Kumar Das
13th Legislative Assembly of Assam
Speaker: Hitendra Nath Goswami since 30th January, 2017 (Bharatiya Janata Party) Deputy Speaker: Aminul Haque Laskar since 2nd June, 2019 (Bharatiya Janata Party)
First Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly
Babu Basanta Kumar Das was the first speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly.
Current Assam Legislative Assembly
The current Assam Legislative Assembly is the 13th Assembly session. The strength of the Assembly stands at 126. Hitendra Nath Goswami is the speaker of the 13th Legislative Assembly and Aminul Haque Laskar is the Deputy Speaker of the Assembly.
Key Bills passed in the 13th Legislative Assembly
Assam Appropriation (No.1) Bill, 2020 passed for withdrawal of Rs 1800 cr. The Assam Repealing Bill, 2020 to shut down government-run Madrassas in the state.
Bill passed for creation of three autonomous councils -- Moran, Motok and Kamtapur Autonomous Council. Bill passed to create autonomous council for Bodo Kachari Community.
Sylhet district of Assam was transferred to the then East Pakistan after the partition by a referendum. The strength of members of the assembly reduced to 71 but after independence the strength was again raised to 108. The bicameral Assam Legislative Assembly became unicameral with the abolition of the Assam Legislative Council in 1947.
After that Assam was truncated to several smaller states. Nagaland became a separate state in 1963. Meghalaya also became a full-fledged state with the passing of North Eastern (Reorganization Areas) Act in 1971 by the Parliament. Subsequently, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh also became separate states.
First Speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly
Babu Basanta Kumar Das was the first speaker of Assam Legislative Assembly.