Ahmedabad, Oct. 3 -- President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to the Gujarat and Assam Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bills, 2026, taking the number of states in independent India to codify a common set of personal laws to three, after Uttarakhand. The Assam bill received the approval on September 29, while Gujarat was cleared on September 17. The Gujarat legislation was published in the extraordinary gazette dated October 1. The state governments will now notify the rules for the code, after which the law will come into force. The Gujarat Uniform Civil Code Bill, 2026, passed after an eight-hour debate on March 24, exempts the state's Scheduled Tribe population. Chief minister Bhupendra Patel tabled it a week after a panel headed by retired Supreme Court judge Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai submitted its report. Justice Desai had previously headed the committee that drafted the Uttarakhand code. Gujarat BJP chief spokesperson Dr Anil Patel welcomed the President's assent, saying that the legislation marked a significant step towards women's empowerment and equality in the state. "When the architects of the Constitution, including Babasaheb Ambedkar, drafted the document, they clearly articulated the need for a Uniform Civil Code in the country. That objective has been realised in Gujarat today," he said, adding that the law would address several issues relating to marriage, divorce, live-in relationships and succession that had previously been governed differently across communities and religious sects. State Congress president Amit Chavda, however, criticised the UCC, saying that the BJP government had pushed through the legislation despite Gujarat's diverse communities, traditions and customs. He said the Congress had demanded that the Bill be referred to a Select Committee and that consultations be held across the state before it was passed....