Gandhinagar: The budget session of the Gujarat assembly will begin on Monday, and finance minister Kanu Desai will present the state budget for 2026-27 on Tuesday.The session will begin with the customary address by governor Acharya Devvrat. A condolence motion for state leaders who passed away recently will also be taken up on the same day, officials said. The House will also elect a new deputy speaker on the first day of the session.
BJP MLA Purnesh Modi and Congress MLA Shailesh Parmar filed their nominations for the post. The election was necessitated following the resignation of incumbent Jetha Bharwad in Dec last year, citing his “busy schedule”. With the BJP enjoying an overwhelming majority of 162 members in the 182-member assembly, Surat MLA Modi is expected to win comfortably. During the session, the state govt is slated to introduce the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which seeks to make substantial changes to the existing 2015 Act. According to a copy of the Bill, the amendment proposes the deletion of all references to “terrorism” and “terrorist acts” from the principal Act. The long title of the law will be modified by removing the words “for prevention and control of terrorist acts”, and several sections, including definitions and penal provisions, will omit references to terrorist acts. The statement of objects and reasons of the Bill notes that the state enacted the law “to curb the menace of terrorist acts and organized crimes by making special provisions for prevention and control of terrorist acts and for coping with criminal activities by organised crime syndicates”. It points out that the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, enacted by the Centre, repealed the Indian Penal Code and introduced revised provisions, “including terrorist acts”. “The state govt, therefore, considers deleting the offences of terrorist acts from the Gujarat Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Act, 2015 so that no overlapping in the investigation of the terrorist acts takes place,” the statement says.
