FirstUp: Uniform Civil Code bill to be tabled in Uttarakhand and more... Today’s big news

It’s the first Monday of February and there’s a lot waiting to happen. From the Uniform Civil Code bill to be tabled in Uttarakhand Assembly to the floor test in Jharkhand, here’s a guide to all the big events that are likely to take place and make headlines. Uniform Civil Code bill to be tabled in Uttarakhand The Uttarakhand Assembly session will be held from 5 to 8 February, and in this session, the Pushkar Singh Dhami government will present the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) Bill in the House. Speaking on the same, the chief minister said, “It is a special session of the state Assembly convened particularly for the passage of a bill on the UCC.” Apart from this, the government will also present a bill in the House for a 10 per cent horizontal reservation in government services for the state agitators and their dependents. Uttarakhand will be the first state in the country to implement the UCC. It was a major poll promise made by Dhami for the state Assembly polls in 2022. Champai Soren’s floor test in Jharkhand Newly appointed Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren will have to prove his government’s majority today when the state Assembly opens. The Jharkhand Assembly has 81 seats, and so the majority mark is 41. Former Jharkhand chief minister, Hemant Soren, who is currently serving a jail term after being arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 31 January in connection with an alleged land scam, will also take part in the trust vote. He was granted permission by the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act) Court on Saturday (3 February) for the same. Soren, whose custody was extended until 7 February, filed a petition before the special PMLA Court, seeking permission to participate in the trust vote sought by the new Chief Minister Champai Soren-headed Jharkhand government. Hemant Soren had named Champai Soren as his successor, the leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) legislative party hours before his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate on 31 January. A veteran and one of the founding members of the JMM, Champai Soren took oath on Friday at the Raj Bhavan. AAP’s Sanjay Singh to take oath as Rajya Sabha MP Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh will take the oath as Rajya Sabha MP today after the Rouse Avenue Court allowed for it. Singh has been arrested in a money laundering case linked to the now-scrapped Delhi excise policy. Singh, one of Delhi’s three Rajya Sabha MPs, was re-nominated by the AAP for another term in January of this year. He was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on 4 October 2023. Special judge M K Nagpal directed jail authorities to take Singh to Parliament at 10 am on 5 February to take the oath. Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde, and deputy CMs to visit Ram Mandir Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, his two deputies Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar along with the entire Cabinet will visit the Ram Temple in Ayodhya today. Shinde was formally invited to the Pran Pratishtha ceremony at Ram temple in Ayodhya on 22 January, which he declined and said that he would visit the temple along with his two deputies in February.