History of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly

The Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly, also known as the Uttarakhand Vidhan Sabha, is a unicameral governing and law making body of Uttarakhand, one of the 28 states of India. It is seated at Dehradun, the winter capital, and Gairsain, the summer capital of Uttarakhand. The total strength of the assembly is 70 Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLA).

Seats

Between 2002 and 2020, Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly had 71 seats, including one reserved seat for the member of Anglo-Indian community that was abolished on 25 January 2020 by the 104th Constitutional Amendment Act, 2019, reducing the strength of Assembly from 71 to 70 seats.[1]

2016 Assembly suspension

In March 2016, capping a nine-day high-voltage political drama, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union Government brought Uttarakhand under President's rule citing a constitutional breakdown in the wake of a rebellion in then state-ruling Indian National Congress, which slammed the decision calling it a "murder of democracy" and a "black day".

President Pranab Mukherjee signed the proclamation under Article 356 of the Constitution of India dismissing the INC-ruled State Government, the Chief Minister Harish Rawat and placing the Assembly under suspended animation on the recommendation of the Union Cabinet.

The Union Government was of the view that continuance of the Rawat government was "immoral and unconstitutional" after 18 March 2016, when the Uttarakhand Assembly Speaker declared the appropriation bill "passed" in controversial circumstances without allowing a division pressed for by 35 MLAs, including 9 rebel Congress legislators.

The Union Cabinet had held an emergency meeting on Saturday night presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had cut short a visit to Assam to return to the New Delhi for the purpose.

The Cabinet considered several reports received from Governor Krishan Kant Paul, who had described the political situation as volatile and expressed apprehensions over possible pandemonium during the scheduled trial of strength in the Assembly on Monday.

The purported CD of the sting operation conducted against the Chief Minister that was in public domain on Saturday was understood to have been factored into the decision of the Cabinet which found it as a case of horse trading.

Additionally Two Uttarakhand MLAs, one each from Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party were on 9 June suspended for cross-voting during the floor test that was held on 10 May. Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal suspended BJP MLA Bhim Lal Arya and INC MLA Rekha Arya.[2]

Electionwise Composition of Assembly
Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly year-wise election results
Party Year
2022
Elections		 2017
Elections		 2012
Elections		 2007
Elections		 2002
Elections
Bahujan Samaj Party 02 – 03 08 07
Bharatiya Janata Party 47 57 31 35 19
Indian National Congress 19 11 32 21 36
Nationalist Congress Party – – – – 01
Uttarakhand Kranti Dal[A] – – 01 03 04
Independent 02 02 03 03 03
Total Seats 70 70 70 70 70

List of Assemblies

The following is the list of all the Uttarakhand Legislative Assemblies[3]

Assembly Election Year Speaker Chief Minister Party Opposition Leader Party
Interim Assembly N/A Prakash Pant Nityanand Swami
(2000–01)		 Bharatiya
Janata
Party		 Indira Hridayesh Indian
National
Congress
Bhagat Singh Koshyari
(2001–02)
1st Assembly 2002 Yashpal Arya Narayan Datt Tiwari Indian
National
Congress		 Bhagat Singh Koshyari
(2002–03)		 Bharatiya
Janata
Party
Matbar Singh Kandari
(2003–07)
2nd Assembly 2007 Harbans Kapoor Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri
(2007–09)		 Bharatiya
Janata
Party		 Harak Singh Rawat Indian
National
Congress
Ramesh Pokhriyal
(2009–11)
Bhuwan Chandra Khanduri
(2011–12)
3rd Assembly 2012 Govind Singh Kunjwal Vijay Bahuguna
(2012–14)		 Indian
National
Congress		 Ajay Bhatt Bharatiya
Janata
Party
Harish Rawat
(2014–17)
4th Assembly 2017 Premchand Aggarwal Trivendra Singh Rawat
(2017–21)		 Bharatiya
Janata
Party		 Indira Hridayesh
(2017–21)		 Indian
National
Congress
Tirath Singh Rawat
(2021)
Pushkar Singh Dhami Pritam Singh
(2021–22)
5th Assembly 2022 Ritu Khanduri Bhushan Yashpal Arya

Speakers
No. Name Portrait Constituency Term[4] Party Assembly
(Election)
1 Prakash Pant MLC for Kumaon Local Authorities 12 March 2001 14 March 2002 Bharatiya Janata Party Interim Assembly
2 Yashpal Arya Mukteshwar 15 March 2002 11 March 2007 Indian National Congress 1st Assembly
(2002)
3 Harbans Kapoor Dehradun 12 March 2007 13 March 2012 Bharatiya Janata Party 2nd Assembly
(2007)
4 Govind Singh Kunjwal Jageshwar 26 March 2012 20 March 2017 Indian National Congress 3rd Assembly
(2012)
5 Premchand Aggarwal Rishikesh 23 March 2017 21 March 2022 Bharatiya Janata Party 4th Assembly
(2017)
6 Ritu Khanduri Bhushan Kotdwar 26 March 2022 Incumbent 5th Assembly
(2022)

Notes
  • A In the 2012 Assembly election, Uttarakhand Kranti Dal contested as "Uttarakhand Kranti Dal (P)" led by then party president Trivendra Singh Panwar. The original party name and the election symbol (chair) was frozen by the Election Commission of India following the factionism and leadership dispute within the party that led to its break-up. Its original name and party symbol were restored in 2017.

References
  1. "Anglo Indian Representation To Lok Sabha, State Assemblies Done Away; SC-ST Reservation Extended For 10 Years: Constitution (104th Amendment) Act To Come Into Force On 25th Jan". www.livelaw.in. 23 January 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  2. "Two Uttarakhand MLAs suspended for cross-voting during trust vote". english.pradesh18.com. 9 June 2016. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  3. "पूर्व सद्स्य: उत्तराखण्ड विधान सभा". ukvidhansabha.uk.gov.in. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  4. . Government of Uttarakhand. Retrieved on 30 July 2014.
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