DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PATNA, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE MONDAY, JULY 7, 2025, KOLKATA, LATE CITY, 16 PAGES BUSINESS AS USUAL BY UNNY SINCE 1932 DRAFT ROLLS TO BE ISSUED ON AUG 1, DOCUMENTS CAN BE SUBMITTED ANY TIME BEFORE JULY 25, SAYS EC CEC defends electoral roll revision, poll panel clarifies ‘no change in instructions’ EC clarification after Bihar CEO ad in local newspapers causes confusion MADHUBANI, SAMASTIPUR, BANKA, JULY 6 TEXAS FLOODS LEAVE 51 DEAD; 27 GIRLS MISSING AS SEARCH OPS CONTINUE MUSK ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF ‘AMERICA PARTY’ PAGE 12 AISWARYA RAJ DEHRADUN, JULY 6 “COPY-PASTING”from“previous reportsorpublishedsources”;an African elephant’s photograph on the cover instead of an Asian one; inconsistencies in data — flagging these and other issues, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change is learnt to have asked the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) to re-submititsannualprogressreporton the Captive Elephant Database Project. In a letter to the WII on April 25, the ministry’s Project ElephantDivisionexpresseddissatisfaction with the report. In the letter addressed to WII Director Virendra Tiwari, Assistant Inspector General of ForestsSuneetBhardwajsaidthe report, submitted by WII scientist Dr Samrat Mondol along with a state-wise report, did not meet “expected benchmarks”. When contacted, Bhardwaj declinedtocommentontheissue. Mondol told The Indian Express that the report was for a review of the progress, and the WII responded to the ministry’s letter with explanations for every point raised, and resubmitted the report. Initsletter,theministrylisted 20 suggestions to help the institute take corrective measures to Not just EBCs & minorities, there is disquiet among upper castes as well SANTOSH SINGH THE WORLD Booth level officers (BLOs) collect forms at Gangsara village in Bihar’s Samastipur district. SANTOSH SINGH & DAMINI NATH PATNA, NEW DELHI, JULY 6 IN THE face of criticism from the Oppositionandconfusiononthe ground in Bihar, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the pollbound state, saying the Election Commission(EC)had“invitedall recognised political parties for interaction” on the matter and “no one was satisfied with the current status of electoral rolls for one reason or the other”. The poll panel, meanwhile, clarified that the SIR was being conducted as per its June 24 orderannouncingtheexerciseand CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 E EXPLAINED ‘Copy-paste’, wrong elephant’s photo on cover: Ministry asks WII to redo report `6.00 (`12 IN NORTH EAST STATES, `20 IN ANDAMAN) WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM WhatEC clarification ● means THE EC’S June 24 order said only those whose forms were received by July 25 would make it to the draft rolls. The guidelines with the order said voters have to submit documents too. Now, the poll body has clarified that EROs can obtain papers from voters whose names appear in the draft rolls even during the claims-andobjections phase that will run from August 1 to September 1. DOMINATED BY upper-caste households, Saurath village of Madhubani in Bihar is known across the region for its annual “sabha” when Brahmin men of “marriageableage”getdressedas groomsandawaita“weddingoffer”.Thesedays,however,thewait in Saurath is for something else. “Outof 2,200domicileapplicationssubmittedfromourpanchayatalone,only150certificates have been issued so far,” says VibhakarJha,sonof Saurathpanchayat mukhiya Kamini Devi. Itisnotjustthepoorandmar- THE EDITORIAL PAGE ELECTION OMISSION EC’s reforms deepened democracy in Bihar. Its current revision does opposite — it needs to reset, to include, not exclude PAGE10 INSIDE RJD MP CHALLENGES ROLL REVISION IN SC: ‘MIGRANTS FACE EXCLUSION’ BENGAL NEXT EC TARGET: MAHUA PAGES 3, 5 WHAT WILL NOT COUNTINBIHAR AN EXPRESS SERIES PART 4 ginalised but, in a state where caste divisions run deep, there is disquiet among upper caste voters as well about the additional documents required to register asavoterunderSpecialIntensive Revision of electoral rolls. “(Adomicilecertificateis)one of the easiest documents to obtain from the Election Commission’s list of 11. There is a large number of upper caste people in the queue here... this unnecessary revision is hurting everyone,”saysJha.“Don’tharass us in the name of documents,” says Chinta Devi, another resident of Saurath. It’s a refrain heard across villages in the region where upper castesareinamajority—thissegmentconstitutesover15percent of the state’s population, including 4.5 per cent from the Muslim PATNA, JULY 6 THE ELECTION Commission(EC) saidSundaythattheinitialphase of the exercise of printing and distributing enumeration forms toalltheregisteredvotersforthe Bihar electoral roll revision was “almost complete” and that 21.46% of the filled-out forms had been submitted. “The initial phase of the ex- BRICSleaders condemnJ&K attack:Onterror, zerotolerance BRICS calls out cross-border terror; PM says attack on India’s soul, identity CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 EC: Form distribution almost over, 21% have given filled-out papers HIMANSHU HARSH PAHALGAM IN DECLARATION ercise, during which enumeration forms were to be printed and distributed, is almost completewiththeformsbeingmade availabletoallelectorswhowere available,” EC Deputy Director P Pawan said in a statement. However, there is a significant backlog in the number of forms uploaded to the poll body’s ECINET database, with only around 7.25% of the 1.69 crore now up on the system. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PM Narendra Modi with Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and other leaders in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday. Reuters SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, JULY 6 IN A declaration adopted at the ongoing summit in Rio de Janeiro late on Sunday night, the BRICS leaders condemned the Pahalgam terror attack “in the strongest terms”, and called for “combating terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, including the cross-border movement of terrorists, terrorism financing and safe havens”. Whilethedeclarationdidnot take any names, the cross-bor- EXPRESS NETWORK GUARDED ON RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR, CONDEMNS STRIKES ON IRAN PAGE 7 der terror reference is seen to be aimed at Pakistan. AddressingtheBRICSsession on peace and security, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Pahalgamwasa“directattackon CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 INDIA BREACH EDGBASTON BASTION, LEVEL SERIES 1-1 New captain, new India Gill leads way with 430 runs, Akash Deep and Siraj shine CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Captain Shubman Gill and other team members congratulate Akash Deep after his fifth wicket against England, Sunday. ANI EXPRESSIN ENGLAND ‘The Nal Se Jal scheme is to provide water, not for some contractor to make money’ CHANDRAKANT RAGHUNATH PATIL UNION MINISTER OF JAL SHAKTI PAGE 14 SANDEEP DWIVEDI BIRMINGHAM, JULY 6 THERE WAS no Virat Kohli, Rohit Sharma or R Ashwin. There was no Jasprit Bumrah, the world’s best bowler, either. This was ShubmanGill’snewteam,which cameroaringbackwhenpushed to a corner. Trailing 0-1 after the defeat in a Test they should have won at Leed’s, Shubman’s boys, inaboutaweek’stime,overcame theHeadingleyheartbreaktowin atEdgbastonandleveltheseries. Shubman’s first Test triumph ascaptainwasabouthimleading from the front, lifting his deflated team, trusting his players, calling outEngland’sBazballbravadoand inthebargainenteringtherecord books, a habit with him now. Powered by the captain’s recordbreaking 430 runs aggregate in this Test, and inspired by the seam-duo of Mohammed Siraj andAkashDeepaccountingfor17 wickets together, the young and largelyinexperiencedteammade more history with their 336-run win.ThiswasIndia’sfirst-everTest triumph at Edgbaston and this was their biggest margin of victory on foreign soil. Over the past five days, Shubman was being seen in a new light. But the captain wasn’tgettingcarriedaway.Inalowkey press conference, with the toneof hisvoicegivingnohintof the scale of his achievement, the captain treated this as just another day. CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 ‘We are not deterred by terror attack, but scared of these mountains’ EXPRESSAT AMARNATHYATRA ANAND MOHAN J SHESHNAG (PAHALGAM), JULY 6 THE PRE-DAWN darkness at Chandanwari base camp has not deterred thousands of pilgrims who fill the air with holy chants. It’s 4 am, and the pilgrims have gathered at the staging point, Pilgrims trek to the Amarnath cave shrine, situated at an altitude of over 12,000 feet above sea level. Anand Mohan J steeling themselvesfor the most gruelling segment of the Amarnath Yatra — the notorious Pissu Top. It’s less than a week into the 38-daypilgrimage,withauthorities already reporting the death of onepilgrim.Forthepilgrimsat Chandanwari base camp, ahead lies a punishing 3-km trek that will test every ounce of their devotion. The path winds steeply upward, climbing relentlessly to 11,000feetabovesealevel,where takingabreathbecomesdifficult with each step and gravity tries CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 Kolkata