As per the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls ordered by the Election Commission ahead of the Bihar Assembly polls, residents of Bihar whose names did not figure in the 2003 electoral rolls must provide one of 11 documents notified by the EC to prove their “citizenship”.This story plays out in village after village in the state, from Nitish’s turf Harnaut in Nalanda district, to RJD chief Lalu Prasad’s Raghopur in Vaishali. The Raghopur Assembly seat is currently represented by Lalu’s son and senior RJD leader Tejashwi Prasad Yadav.In the next 20 days or so, as the monsoon moves in, over 77,000 booth level offices along with other government staff and political party workers must check the antecedents of over 7.8 crore registered electors as part of the revision exercise. While a declaration that an applicant is a citizen is required for all new registrations, this time the EC is asking for citizenship proof for all new as well as existing voters.Across villages in Bihar, this has meant both disquiet and a desperate scramble for residential and caste certificates, the most commonly available of the 11 documents specified by the EC.Also Read | In village after village in Bihar, a chorus: ‘We only have Aadhaar… how do we get the papers EC asking for?’RSS pitchRSS general secretary Dattatreya Hosabale last week said that the words “secular” and “socialist” in the Preamble to the Constitution should be reviewed.Story continues below this adThis is not the first time the issue has come up. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Rakesh Sinha moved a Private Member’s Bill in 2020, and others have petitioned the courts. The Supreme Court examined the matter, and in 2024, a two-judge Bench led by then Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjeev Khanna upheld the insertion of “socialist” and “secular” in the Preamble.The timing of the Sangh’s move today is of as much interest as the move itself. After the fulfilment of its core agenda — Ram temple, Article 370, Uniform Civil Code — the Sangh may want to push its agenda further in its centenary year as it looks to create a Hindu civilisational entity.The RSS’s suggestion can complicate an already difficult situation for the BJP brass. First, the party will have to decide what it will do about the allegiance to secularism that is mentioned in its party Constitution. In 2014, PM Modi said that secularism “flows in our blood”.Second, the BJP’s NDA allies, on whom the party is dependent in its third term, are not likely to bite the bullet easily. Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) leader Chirag Paswan has already made it clear he is not in favour of amending the Preamble.Story continues below this adThird, it will give another handle to the Congress to target the BJP.Neerja Chowdhury unpacks in her columnAlso Read | As RSS calls for amending Preamble, why it puts BJP in a tricky positionMajithia’s bail pleaOn Friday, the Punjab and Haryana High Court will hear Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia’s plea against his arrest and subsequent remand in a disproportionate assets case registered against him by the Vigilance Bureau.Majithia was sent to a seven-day vigilance remand by the Mohali court on June 26.Story continues below this adThe court Wednesday extended the remand by four more days after his seven-day remand ended.The VB on June 25 arrested Majithia in the case allegedly involving laundering of Rs 540 crore of “drug money”.Majithia on July 1 moved the high court, calling the arrest “political witch-hunting and vendetta” for being a vocal critic of the current dispensation.In his petition, he sought appropriate relief against “illegal” arrest and subsequent remand granted in the FIR registered under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.Story continues below this adHe submitted that the FIR registered against him is “patently illegal” while his arrest was carried out in “gross violation of settled legal procedures”.In 2021, Majithia was booked under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act. The action was taken on the basis of a 2018 report of the anti-drug Special Task Force.Majithia spent more than five months in Patiala jail and walked out of prison in August 2022 after the Punjab and Haryana High Court granted him bail.– With PTI inputs