Madhya Pradesh Public Holidays 2026

Understanding Madhya Pradesh's Holiday Calendar in 2026

Madhya Pradesh declares 25 general holidays for all government offices and institutions in 2026, plus all Sundays, by General Administration Department notification No. F 3-1-2025-Ek-4 dated 29 December 2025, published in the Madhya Pradesh Gazette (Extraordinary) No. 364. The same notification declares 63 optional holidays, from which each government employee may take a maximum of three.

A third schedule in the same notification declares 19 days as public holidays under Section 25 of the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881. It is not the general list. Seven general holidays close government offices but are not Negotiable Instruments Act holidays: Gudi Padwa, Chaiti Chand, Ambedkar Jayanti/Vaisakhi, Parshuram Jayanti, Maharana Pratap/Chhatrasal Jayanti, Ganesh Chaturthi and Maharishi Valmiki Jayanti. In the other direction, 1 April is declared for banks and treasuries or sub-treasuries only, for annual closing of accounts, and is a working day everywhere else.

The 63-day optional list is the second longest in the country after Chhattisgarh's, and it is what makes the Madhya Pradesh calendar look far larger than it is. Against a three-day quota per employee, 63 entries function as a menu covering the state's tribal, Jain, Sindhi, Bohra, Sikh, Malayali and regional Hindu communities rather than as days off anyone actually gets.

For payroll, commercial establishments fall under the Madhya Pradesh Shops and Establishments Act, 1958, and factories under the Factories Act framework. The GAD notification governs government offices; a private establishment inherits the Negotiable Instruments Act days and whatever its own standing orders declare.

National Holidays in Madhya Pradesh

Republic Day on Monday 26 January, Independence Day on Saturday 15 August and Gandhi Jayanti on Friday 2 October are mandatory. Dr. Ambedkar Jayanti is declared on Tuesday 14 April jointly with Vaisakhi, and carries particular weight in Madhya Pradesh because Ambedkar was born at Mhow, near Indore, where the memorial draws very large numbers on the day.

2026 is an unusually favourable year for the state. Only two of the 25 general holidays fall on a weekend, Id-ul-Fitr on Saturday 21 March and Independence Day on Saturday 15 August, leaving 23 weekday closures for government offices.

That count is favourable partly because the notification simply does not declare festivals that fall on Sundays. Sant Ravidas Jayanti on 1 February, Mahashivratri on 15 February, Deepavali on 8 November and Rashtriya Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on 15 November are all listed as omitted for that reason.

Madhya Pradesh-Specific Holidays

Diwali is not a declared holiday in Madhya Pradesh in 2026. It falls on Sunday 8 November, and the notification lists it among the festivals not separately declared for that reason. The only declared day in the cluster is Govardhan Puja on Monday 9 November. Employees expecting a Diwali break will find one working Monday declared and nothing else. Bhai Dooj on 11 November is on the optional list, not the general one.

Ram Navami is declared on Friday 27 March. Delhi, Maharashtra and several other states declare it on Thursday 26 March. This is a real divergence between state notifications rather than an error, and a multi-state employer needs both dates in the calendar.

Madhya Pradesh declares regional and community commemorations as full general holidays that most states leave optional: Parshuram Jayanti on Monday 20 April, Maharana Pratap Jayanti jointly with Chhatrasal Jayanti on Wednesday 17 June, Gudi Padwa on Thursday 19 March and Chaiti Chand, the Sindhi new year, on Friday 20 March. The Sindhi declaration reflects the size of the community in Bhopal, Indore and Ujjain.

Mahashivratri is not declared in 2026 because it falls on Sunday 15 February. This matters more in Madhya Pradesh than in most states, given the Mahakaleshwar Jyotirlinga at Ujjain and the scale of observance around it. The Sunday absorbs it this year, but travel in the surrounding days will still be heavy.

The optional list carries the state's tribal commemorations as options rather than closures: Krantisurya Tantya Bhil on 4 December, Raja Shankar Shah and Raghunath Shah on 18 September, and Virangana Durgavati and Virangana Avantibai. Janjatiya Gaurav Diwas on 15 November, the Birsa Munda anniversary, would have been a general holiday but falls on a Sunday.

Restricted Holidays in Madhya Pradesh

The optional list runs to 63 days and each government employee may take a maximum of three. The notification is explicit on the cap: three days from the 63 as the employee chooses, and no more.

Fifteen of the 63 are worth nothing in 2026. Nine fall on a weekend: Hazrat Ali's Birthday on 3 January, Dev Narayan Jayanti on 24 January, Swami Ramcharan Jayanti on 31 January, Bhagwan Mauney Jayanti on 21 March, Jyotiba Phule Jayanti on 11 April, Bada Mahadev Pujan on 27 June, Parsi New Year on 15 August, Sarvapitru Amavasya on 10 October and South Indian Deepavali on 7 November. Six more share a date with a general holiday that is already closed: Jamat-ul-Vida on 20 March, Sen Jayanti on 14 April, Akshaya Tritiya on 20 April, Onam on 26 August, Maharaj Ajmodh Dev Jayanti on 26 October and the second day of Deepavali on 9 November. That leaves 48 with practical value against a three-day quota.

A further 11 festivals were dropped from the optional list entirely because they fall on a Sunday: Narmada Jayanti, Shabri Jayanti, Eklavya Jayanti, Bhakt Mata Karma Jayanti, Ahilya Bai's birth anniversary, Janjatiya Diwas, Agrasen Jayanti, Dussehra Mahashtami, Chhath Puja, Jhalkari Jayanti and Maharaja Khetsingh Khangar Jayanti.

Chhath Puja falls outside both schedules. It lands on Sunday 15 November 2026, so employees who travel to Bihar or eastern Uttar Pradesh for it have no declared day and no optional day to claim. It comes out of earned leave, and the travel window is longer than the festival itself.

HR & Payroll Guidance for Madhya Pradesh, 2026

Plan for the Diwali gap first. Most of India loses days to a Sunday Diwali; Madhya Pradesh declares nothing at all for it, and Govardhan Puja on Monday 9 November is the only closure. Decide early whether the establishment will grant additional days, because the expectation of a Diwali break in central India is strong and the notification will not meet it.

The general list and the banking list diverge on eight days. Seven general holidays are not Negotiable Instruments Act days, so state offices close while banks work; and 1 April closes banks and treasuries while offices work. Anything involving a treasury challan, a statutory deposit or a payment clearing has to be scheduled against the Negotiable Instruments Act schedule, not the office calendar.

Ram Navami on 27 March will break a shared multi-state calendar. So will Id-ul-Fitr if you also operate in Kerala, which declares it on 20 March against Madhya Pradesh's 21 March. Both are correct for their own state.

A 63-day optional list against a three-day cap needs a written allocation policy more than it needs a longer calendar. Publish the cap alongside the list, decide how many people per team may take the same date, and note that 15 of the 63 are already dead in 2026 so demand will concentrate on the remaining 48.

Engage HRMS keeps the general, Negotiable Instruments Act and optional schedules as separate layers, enforces the three-day optional cap per employee, and resolves state-specific festival dates so an Indore plant and a Pune office run off one system without a shared calendar being wrong for both.