The Aam Aadmi party and Congres, who are INDIA bloc partners in New Delhi, have finalised their seat-sharing agreement for the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday, sources said. The official announcement by the parties is likely to be made today.

As per the agreement AAP will be contesting in four constituencies, namely New Delhi, South Delhi, West Delhi, and East Delhi. However, Congress will fight in three constituencies, namely Chandni Chowk, North East Delhi, and North West Delhi.

Both the parties have also finalised  the seats that they will contest in Gujarat, Haryana and Chandigarh, as per a report. The AAP is to contest two seats and the Congress will get the sole Lok Sabha seat in Chandigarh and the South Goa seat. Aditionally, the AAP will get at least one seat in Haryana.

In the last elections, Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) won all 26 seats in Guajart and all 10 in Haryana. In Goa which has only two seats in Lok Sabha, BJP won North Goa seat.

The agreement between the two parties came after AAP declared that it would contest all 14 lok Sabha seats in Punjab and Chandigarh alone. The party also declared that it would contest three seats in Assam and named its candidate for one Lok Sabha seat in Goa.

In Uttarpradesh, Congress and Samajwadi Party have also finalised their deal of Lok Sabha seat-sharing. Congress will fight for 17 seats while other 63 seats will be contested by candidates of Akhilesh Yadav’s SP party and oher INDIA alliance candidates.

Meanwhile, INDIA bloc seat sharing agreement in Maharashtra will be announced soon. Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said on Friday that the discussions between Congress, Uddhav Thakrey’s Shiv Sena and and Nationalist Congress Party are underway and a decision will be announced soon.

AIUDF MLA Hafiz Rafiqul Islam on Saturday said Himanta Biswa Sarma- led Assam government doesn’t have the courage to bring the Uniform Civil Code in the state as it has been implemented in Uttarakhand. He reacted to the Assam government’s decision to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act and added the move had been taken to target Muslims.

Islam said bill passed in Uttarakhand is not Uniform Civil Code. He said Uniform Civil Code cannot be implemented in Assam because there are people from many different castes and communities. He said BJP followers themselves follow these practices. Islam said the BJP government is employing these tactics as the Lok Sabha elections are approaching.

The Assam government gave its approval to repeal the British Raj-era law on Friday. Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to X and wrote this act contains provisions which allow marriage registration even if the bride and groom had not reached the legal ages of 18 and 21, as required by law. This move marks another significant step towards prohibiting child marriages in Assam.

This law gives authority to Muslim registrars to register voluntary declaration of marriages and divorces. After this law has been repealed, the district authorities will take over the custody of the registration records which have been held by 94 muslim marriage registrars.

The Assam government said it is not mandatory to register marriages and divorces as per the Act and the machinery of registration is informal, which leaves a lot of scope for non-compliance with extant norms. Earlier, the Uttarakhand government got the Uniform Civil Code Bill passed in the state assembly.

The bill seeks to replace personal religious laws governing marriage, divorces and inheritance, with a common set of rules applicable to all religious laws governing marriage, divorces and inheritance, with common set of rules applicable to all religions equally.

In an incident on Friday night, a person was killed and another person injured in an IED explosion at the premises of the All Manipur Students’ Union (AMSU) situated inside the DM College complex in Manipur’s Imphal West district.

According to reports, on Friday night, an unidentified miscreants exploded a strong bomb at the office of AMSU around 9:30 pm, resulting in hurting two people. After arrival at the city hospital for treatment, one victim, identified as Oinam Kenagy, 24, died and another, identified as Salam Michael, 24, is currently undergoing treatment.

After the explosion, a police team quickly arrived at the location to assess the situation. The police are currently conducting further investigations as the attackers have not yet been identified.

It is worth noting that since September 10, 2022, prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC have been imposed on the area where the explosion occurred. This is due to an ongoing dispute.

Meanwhile, unidentified people set fire to the office of an NGO, United Committee Manipuri (UCM), in Lamphel, Imphal Valley, Manipur and miscreants also burnt down Macha Lekma School in Palace Compound.

The administrative section of a school in the Imphal East district was damaged and set on fire by unknown individuals, resulting in the destruction of a parked vehicle.

Earlier in January, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) filed two separate chargesheets against five accused in connection with the case of two missing students in Manipur, who were feared killed during the ethnic violence in the northeastern state.

On September 25 last year, photos showing their bodies surfaced on various social media platforms, leading to protests, mainly by students.

Among the five accused, Paolunmang was arrested from Pune, and Paominlun Haokip, Smalsawm Haokip and Lhingneichong Baitekuki were arrested from Churachandpur district. Nohgin Baitekuki was still on the run and no confirmation of his arrest.