Could Boycott Bihar Polls, Says Tejashwi; Supreme Court Complicit in ED’s Unchecked Power; India-UK Trade Deal

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Tanweer Alam, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Over to Siddharth Varadarajan for today’s Cable

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Snapshot of the day

July 24, 2025

Siddharth Varadarajan

Upping the ante in the Opposition’s running battle with the Bharatiya Janata Party over the sudden and extensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar months before the assembly elections, Tejashwi Yadav of the RJD said today that he and allies could also consider boycotting the elections if they are convinced voting will not be free and fair.

The Indo-UK free trade deal was finally signed today at Prime Minister Keir Starmer's country residence in Buckinghamshire in the presence of Starmer and visting Indian PM Narendra Modi. The deal was concluded in May following 14 rounds of negotiations over the last few years. Under the pact, India stands to gain from the removal of tariffs on roughly half its exports to Britain, while the UK will see tariff cuts on automobiles, whisky, gin, salmon, lamb as well as machinery. New Delhi has also secured some movement for certain Indian professionals as well as concessions on insurance contributions for employees in transfer. Here’s a guide to what will get cheaper in India as a result.

The Supreme Court today said that the Bombay high court's judgment acquitting the 12 convicts in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts case cannot be used as a precedent for other cases involving the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act. “We have been informed that all the respondents have been released and there is no question of bringing them back to the prison,”