The landmark bill was passed by voice vote amidst chants of ‘Jai Shree Ram’ in the Assembly. ‘Vande Matarm’ and ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ slogans were also raised by the jubilant BJP MLAs in the floor of the Uttarakhand Assembly.

The bill was tabled in the state assembly on Tuesday with Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami presenting the bill in the house.

The UCC bill proposes uniform marriage, divorce, land, property and inheritance laws for all citizens regardless of their background in Uttarakhand.

It seeks to establish uniformity in personal laws pertaining to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and other family matters across all religions.

Provisions to outlaw practices such as polygamy and to set a common marriage age for all citizens, irrespective of their community, will also fall under this bill.

With its enactment, others states will look up to Uttarakhand as a model, with reports floating that similar bills might soon be considered in the states of Gujarat, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.

Notably, this move by the BJP-led Uttarakhand government has drawn mixed reactions.

The supporters emphasize the significance of the bill for national interest while its critics accuse it as a means for polarizing the votes.

Meanwhile, the five-member panel of the UCC draft committee, headed by retired judge of the Supreme Court Ranjana Prakash Desai, had submitted a 740 page report – divided into four volumes – on February 2 to CM Dhami.

It is worth mentioning that the UCC panel had earlier received as many as 2.33 lakh written suggestions online and conducted over 70 meetings in which its members interacted with around 60,000 people in the course of preparing the draft.

Now. the passed UCC bill of Uttrakhand will be sent to the President of India for her assent according to the formal procedures.

Part IV, Article 44 of the Indian Constitution states that “The State shall endeavour to secure the citizen a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territory of India”

Accordingly, all the states under BJP rule can introduce the Uniform Civil Code in the respective territories.

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__Inputs from Agencies & India Today.