The passage of the Assam Uniform Civil Code Bill 2026 marks the third BJP-ruled state to move ahead with common civil legislation, banning polygamy

The Assam Legislative Assembly has successfully passed the highly debated Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill, 2026, amid heavy resistance and loud shouting matches from opposition benches. The legislative clearance, passed via a voice vote on Wednesday, turns Assam into the third BJP-ruled state after Uttarakhand and Gujarat to establish a common civil framework. 

Core legal reforms introduced

The newly passed legislation aims to replace diverse, religion-based personal laws with a uniform set of civil codes governing marriage age, divorce, alimony, property inheritance, and child adoption across all resident communities. The law sets a standardized legal marriage age of 21 years for grooms and 18 years for brides. Crucially, it proposes stringent penalties for violations, including up to seven years of imprisonment for bigamy or polygamy, and up to three months in jail for failing to register a live-in relationship.

Exclusions for tribal populations

Addressing deep-seated concerns over the preservation of indigenous identities in the Northeast, the state government clarified that tribal communities will remain entirely outside the purview of the law. The Bill explicitly states that it will not apply to the Scheduled Tribes of Assam. To safeguard cultural diversity, full freedom of ritual remains intact, allowing marriages to be solemnized through any existing religious ceremony or custom, including Nikah, Vedic Bibah, Anand Karaj, or Holy Union.

Opposition flags social harmony

The opposition benches staged noisy protests, moving into the Well of the House and demanding that the legislation be referred to a select committee for wider public consultations. Speaker Ranjeet Kumar Dass rejected the demand, leading to sustained sloganeering while the ruling bench pushed the Bill through. Despite the political pushback, the ruling NDA coalition cleared the landmark bill, fulfilling a major core electoral promise from their assembly election manifesto.