FirstUp: New Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh CMs to take oath and other big news today

December is about halfway through, and a lot of things are happening.

BJP government's oath-taking ceremony is being held in Hindi heartlands -- Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh. Global Refugee Forum 2023 will begin in Switzerland.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is visiting Indonesia.

Here's a glimpse of what is expected today.

Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh CM’s oath-taking ceremonies

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Vishnu Deo Sai and Mohan Yadav will be taking oath as the new Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh’s chief ministers today.

Yadav was chosen as the party's legislative leader on Monday evening, 15 days after the BJP crushed the Congress to win the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections Image Courtesy ANI

Sai’s oath-taking ceremony will take place in Raipur, while Yadav’s oath-taking will be held in Bhopal’s Lal Parade Ground.

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According to PTI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath are likely to attend Yadav’s oath-taking ceremony.

File image of Vishnu Deo Sai. Twitter/@vishnudsai

Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Indonesia

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be arriving in Indonesia’s Jakarta. The former party president is visiting the South East Asian countries – Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, Indonesia, and Vietnam since 8 December.

The 53-year-old will travel to Vietnam’s Hanoi tomorrow and will be returning to India on 15 December night.

The 53-year-old will travel to Vietnam’s Hanoi tomorrow and will be returning to India on 15 December night. PTI

Large segments of the trip are yet to be known, however, he is expected to address events of the Indian diaspora and students at universities there.

Karnataka Congress Legislative Party meeting in Belagavi

The Karnataka Congress unit has scheduled its Legislative Party meeting on Wednesday at Shoonya Farm Retreat in Belagavi. Deputy Chief Minister and Congress president DK Shivakumar along with legislators will attend.

Global Refugee Forum 2023 in Switzerland

The 2023 Global Refugee Forum is being held from Wednesday, 13 December to Friday, 15 December in Switzerland’s Geneva. The forum is co-convened by six countries – Colombia, France, Japan, Jordan, Niger and Uganda.

It is co-hosted by the Government of Switzerland and UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency.

ECP’s contempt case against Imran Khan

Pakistan’s election commission will hold contempt case proceedings against former prime minister Imran Khan and his party colleague Fawad Chaudhry today at the high-security Adiala jail.

Imran Khan. ANI File

Khan, the 71-year-old founder of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) party and Chaudhry are both currently incarcerated in multiple cases at the Adiala jail in Rawalpindi.

EU's Sakharov human rights prize to Mahsa Amini’s family

The Sakharov Prize, which comes with a 50,000-euro ($53,000) endowment, was to be handed over to Mahsa Amini’s family in a European Parliament ceremony today.

However, the family has been banned from flying to France to collect the top award in her honour, as per BBC.

In October, the European Union awarded its top rights honour, the Sakharov Prize, to her and the global movement her death triggered.

Court hearings...

The Supreme Court will be hearing plea filed by Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra as well as the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) challenging the transfer of their income tax assessments to the Central Circle, which is mandated to check tax evasion. The IT department has also been asked to bring the relevant file today.

The Delhi Court will be hearing a case against Investigation Officers (IO) who wasted its time in the North East Delhi riot case 2020. The court was dealing with an application moved by the present IO seeking permission to conduct further investigation in a riot case.

The same court will also hear a matter against Vivo India and others in money laundering case. Notably, the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday filed its first chargesheet against the Chinese smartphone maker and others.

The Pakistan Supreme Court will hear the intra-court appeals (ICAs) today, moved to challenge the October 23 apex court verdict against trials of civilians in the military courts.