Overview

• At a joint press conference in Araria, Rahul Gandhi alleged a “partnership” between the Election Commission and the BJP and called Bihar’s Special Intensive Revision an institutionalised attempt to steal votes, citing large-scale deletions and the EC’s affidavit demand to him but not to BJP leaders.
• Tejashwi Yadav said the poll panel had become a BJP “cell” and claimed living voters were marked deceased, arguing the EC has no category for “infiltrators” despite the prime minister’s remarks in Gaya.
• The yatra entered its eighth day with a motorcycle rally in Purnea and a unity display alongside CPI(ML) leader Dipankar Bhattacharya, even as expelled RJD MLA Tej Pratap Yadav publicly criticised Rahul Gandhi and his brother Tejashwi.
• Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli police registered an FIR against Tejashwi Yadav over an X post about Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to which the RJD leader responded that he was unafraid and would continue speaking out.
• Union home minister Amit Shah accused INDIA’s vice-presidential nominee Justice B Sudershan Reddy of aiding Naxalism over the 2011 Salwa Judum verdict, as NDA candidate C P Radhakrishnan met Shah and opposition leaders Kharge and Akhilesh Yadav attacked new arrest-linked disqualification bills now with a JPC.