Gujarat Legislative Assembly

Gujarat Vidhan Sabha ગુજરાત વિધાનસભા
13th Assembly
Type
Type	Unicameral
Leadership
Speaker of the Assembly	Vajubhai Vala[1] Since January, 2013
Chief Minister	Narendra Modi, BJP Since 2001
Opposition Leader	Shankersinh Vaghela[2], INC Since January, 2013
Structure
Seats	182
Political groups	BJP (120)       INC (57)       GPP (2)       NCP (2)       JD(U) (1)       Vacant (1)
Elections
Voting system	First-past-the-post
Last election	December, 2012
Meeting place
23°13′8″N 72°39′25″E / 23.21889°N 72.65694°E / 23.21889; 72.65694Coordinates: 23°13′8″N 72°39′25″E / 23.21889°N 72.65694°E / 23.21889; 72.65694 Vithalbhai Patel Bhavan, Gujarat Vidhan Sabha, Gandhinagar
Website
www.gujaratassembly.gov.in

Gujarat Legislative Assembly or Gujarat Vidhan Sabha (ગુજરાત વિધાન સભા) is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Gujarat. It is situated in the capital Gandhinagar. Presently, 182 members of the Legislative Assembly are directly elected from the single-seat constituencies and one member is nominated. It has term of 5 years unless it is dissolved sooner. 13 constituencies are reserved for scheduled castes and 26 constituencies for scheduled tribes.

History

In 1918, Bhavsinhji Gohil, ruler of Bhavnagar State, established The Peoples' Representative Assembly consisting of 38 members appointed by him. His succeeding son, Krishnakumar Sinhji, formed the Bhavnagar legislative assembly in 1941 having 55 members, consisting of 33 elected members, 16 nominated members by him and 6 ex-officio members. They had power to ask questions, move resolutions, discuss the budget and introduce bills in the assembly. This assembly used to meet at least twice in a year. Porbandar state assembly had same powers. Sayajirao Gaekwad, ruler of Baroda state, had formed the Baroda legislative assembly in 1908.^[3]

Since 1921, representative were elected by the people of that area of the present Gujarat state except the princely states, and sent to the Bombay state legislative assembly. In 1952, Saurashtra legislative assembly was constituted after the independence of India. It was functional till October 31, 1956. Saurashtra state was merged into the Bombay state under the States Reorganization Act, 1956.^[3]

On May 1, 1960, the Bombay state was bifurcated into Gujarat and Maharashtra states resulted in formation of Gujarat legislative assembly. 132 members of the former Bombay legislative assembly, elected from the territorial constituencies of Gujarat, formed the first Gujarat legislative assembly. Number of the members was increased to 154 in 1962, 168 in 1967 and 182 in 1975.^[3]

Place

After formation of Gujarat state in 1960, Ahmedabad was a capital of the state. Assembly started functioning from the present day OPD building of Ahmedabad Civil Hospital. New capital city, Gandhinagar was built in 1971. Later assembly was shifted to Central Library building, sector-17, Gandhinagar on February 11, 1971. President Neelam Sanjiva Reddy laid foundation stone of new assembly building, Vithalbhai Patel Bhavan on March 20, 1978. It was designed by H. K. Mewada, chief planner of Gandhinagar. The construction was completed in 1982 and it was named after Vithalbhai Patel, the first Indian speaker of Central Legislative Assembly. It was inaugurated by Governor Sharda Mukherjee on July 8, 1982. Since then the Gujarat legislative assembly works here.^[3]

Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha

Political leaders
From left: Gujarat Assembly Leader of Opposition Shankersinh Vaghela, Praful Patel, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Gujarat Governor Kamla Beniwal, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Dinsha Patel, Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki

Vajubhai Vala is the current speaker of the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha.^[4][5][6]

Past speakers

Constituencies and current members

The following is the list of the members of the 13th Gujarat Legislative Assembly.^[8][9][10]

Keys:       BJP (120)       INC (57)       GPP (2)       NCP (2)       JD(U) (1)       Vacant (1)

See also

• Council of Ministers of Gujarat
• Politics of Gujarat
• Government of Gujarat
• Gujarat legislative assembly election, 2012
• List of constituencies of Gujarat Vidhan Sabha

References