CM Dhami meets Assembly Speaker ahead of Gairsain session

Key Takeaways

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami met Speaker Ritu Khanduri at Bhararisain, Gairsain on 27 October 2026 before the upcoming assembly session.

Gairsain , located in Chamoli district , has been developed as Uttarakhand's proposed summer capital with a purpose-built Vidhan Sabha complex at Bhararisain.

Uttarakhand has held periodic assembly sessions in Gairsain since 2020 , rotating with the permanent capital Dehradun .

The practice addresses long-standing demands from hill communities for decentralised administration in the Himalayan state.

No formal legislation conferring summer-capital status on Gairsain has been passed; sessions there serve as both governance and political affirmation.

Before the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly convenes at Bhararisain, Gairsain, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami called on Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri on Tuesday, 27 October 2026 — a customary but pointed signal that the hill-capital session is on track.

Posting on X in Hindi, CM Dhami wrote: 'Bharaḍīsaiṇ, Gairsaiṇ meṃ Vidhānsabhā satra se pahle mānanīya Vidhānsabhā adhyakṣ Śrīmatī Ritu Khanduri jī se bheṃṭ kī' — 'Met the honourable Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Smt. Ritu Khanduri, ahead of the assembly session in Bhararisain, Gairsain.'

Gairsain's place in Uttarakhand's capital debate

Gairsain, a town in the Chamoli district of the Himalayas, has carried the weight of a decades-old political promise. When Uttarakhand was carved out as a separate state in 2000, hill communities pushed hard for a capital in the mountains — closer to them and farther from the plains city of Dehradun. Bhararisain, the purpose-built Vidhan Sabha complex within the Gairsain area, became the physical answer to that demand. From 2020 onward, successive state governments began rotating assembly sessions between Dehradun and Gairsain, institutionalising the idea of Gairsain as a summer capital without yet passing formal legislation to seal that status. Each session held in the hills is both a governance act and a political statement — that the mountains are not an afterthought.

Dhami-Khanduri coordination before the session

Speaker Ritu Khanduri, a BJP legislator and daughter of former Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri, presides over the assembly's proceedings. A pre-session meeting between the Chief Minister and the Speaker is standard protocol — covering the legislative agenda, order of business, and any extraordinary items the government intends to bring to the floor. The images shared by CM Dhami alongside the post show the two leaders in what appears to be a formal, cordial exchange at the hill venue. The broader pattern is consistent: each Gairsain session reinforces infrastructure investment at Bhararisain and keeps the summer-capital aspiration politically alive for the state's hill districts, whose residents remain the most vocal advocates for decentralised administration.

Point of View

Showing up at Bhararisain before the gavel falls is a visible gesture to the hill electorate that the Gairsain experiment is not stalling. The unresolved capital-status question, however, remains the long shadow over each session — and hill district residents will keep watching whether ceremony eventually converts into statute.

NationPress

27 Oct 2026

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is the Uttarakhand assembly session held in Gairsain?

Uttarakhand holds periodic sessions at the Bhararisain Vidhan Sabha complex in Gairsain to advance the town's recognition as the state's summer capital and address hill communities' long-standing demand for a capital closer to the mountains, away from Dehradun.

Who is Ritu Khanduri?

Ritu Khanduri is the Speaker of the Uttarakhand Legislative Assembly and a BJP legislator. She is the daughter of former Uttarakhand Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri.

Is Gairsain officially the capital of Uttarakhand?

Gairsain has been designated as Uttarakhand's summer capital in practice, with assembly sessions held there since 2020, but no formal legislation has been enacted to permanently confirm that status.

Where is Bhararisain located?

Bhararisain is a site within the Gairsain area in Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, where the purpose-built Vidhan Sabha complex for hill sessions is located.

What did CM Dhami post about the Gairsain assembly session?

CM Pushkar Singh Dhami posted on X that he met Assembly Speaker Ritu Khanduri at Bhararisain, Gairsain ahead of the Legislative Assembly session, signalling that pre-session coordination is under way.