diff --git a/Tests/InductionPlan.lean b/Tests/InductionPlan.lean
index 9dbf6da..abed782 100644
--- a/Tests/InductionPlan.lean
+++ b/Tests/InductionPlan.lean
@@ -78,4 +78,50 @@ example : True := by
       throwError "strict induction dominance was not selected"
   trivial
 
+-- Evidence relevance is a stable partition, including when another middleware
+-- has already changed the order. It retains unrelated evidence, data induction,
+-- candidates without a major premise, and multiple motives on the same premise.
+inductive Related : Nat → Prop where
+  | zero : Related 0
+  | step : Related n → Related (n + 1)
+
+inductive Unrelated : Nat → Prop where
+  | zero : Unrelated 0
+
+example (n : Nat) (h : Related n) (_other : Unrelated n)
+    (p : Nat → Prop) (_abstract : p n) : Related n := by
+  run_tac
+    let goal ← getMainGoal
+    let h ← getFVarId (mkIdent `h)
+    let other ← getFVarId (mkIdent `_other)
+    let abstract ← getFVarId (mkIdent `_abstract)
+    let mk (index : Nat) (kind : InductionKind) (major : Option FVarId) : Candidate :=
+      { action := { group := .induction, index }
+        move := {
+          label := s!"evidence fixture {index}"
+          induction := kind
+          major
+          run := pure () } }
+    let candidates := #[mk 0 .data (some h), mk 1 .evidence (some other),
+      mk 2 .evidence (some h), mk 3 .evidence none, mk 4 .evidence (some h),
+      mk 5 .evidence (some abstract)]
+    let span : Span := { phase := .enumerate, group := some .induction }
+    let check (hooks : Hooks) (expected : Array Nat) := do
+      let some actions ← hooks.order goal span candidates
+        | throwError "evidence ordering returned no permutation"
+      unless actions.map (·.index) == expected do
+        throwError "unexpected evidence order: {repr actions}"
+    check InductionPlan.evidenceFirst #[2, 4, 0, 1, 3, 5]
+    check (InductionPlan.evidenceFirst {
+      order := fun _ _ cs => pure (some (cs.reverse.map (·.action))) }) #[4, 2, 5, 3, 1, 0]
+    check Mode.search.hooks #[2, 4, 0, 1, 3, 5]
+    let dataOnly := #[mk 0 .data (some h)]
+    unless (← InductionPlan.evidenceFirst.order goal span dataOnly).isNone do
+      throwError "a batch without evidence should preserve the default order"
+  exact h
+
+-- The tactic still uses ordinary theorem hints with the new default ordering.
+example (n : Nat) (h : Related n) : Related (n + 1) := by
+  waterfall [Related.step]
+
 end waterfallInductionPlanTest
diff --git a/waterfall/InductionPlan.lean b/waterfall/InductionPlan.lean
index 430a4c8..8c78b9f 100644
--- a/waterfall/InductionPlan.lean
+++ b/waterfall/InductionPlan.lean
@@ -144,4 +144,34 @@ public def hooks (inner : Hooks := {}) : Hooks := { inner with
       else result := result.push candidate
     return some (result.map (·.action)) }
 
+/-- Prefer induction on evidence whose predicate occurs in the target. This is
+a stable partition of the inner policy's ordering, within the current batch;
+it retains every alternative and leaves each partition's order intact.
+
+This syntactic relevance test can miss predicates hidden behind definitions and
+can prefer incidental occurrences. It changes search priority, not eligibility:
+unrelated evidence and data induction remain available if the preferred route
+fails. -/
+public def evidenceFirst (inner : Hooks := {}) : Hooks := { inner with
+  order := fun g span candidates => do
+    let requested ← inner.order g span candidates
+    if !candidates.any (·.move.induction == .evidence) then
+      return requested
+    g.withContext do
+      let targetConstants := (← g.getType).getUsedConstants
+      let actions := requested.getD (candidates.map (·.action))
+      let mut preferred := #[]
+      let mut remaining := #[]
+      for action in actions do
+        let some candidate := candidates.find? (·.action == action)
+          | throwError "evidence ordering received an unknown ordered action"
+        let mut relevant := false
+        if candidate.move.induction == .evidence then
+          if let some major := candidate.move.major then
+            if let .const name _ := (← whnf (← inferType (mkFVar major))).getAppFn then
+              relevant := targetConstants.contains name
+        if relevant then preferred := preferred.push action
+        else remaining := remaining.push action
+      return some (preferred ++ remaining) }
+
 end waterfall.InductionPlan
diff --git a/waterfall/Tactic.lean b/waterfall/Tactic.lean
index 9a837c2..f9c14bd 100644
--- a/waterfall/Tactic.lean
+++ b/waterfall/Tactic.lean
@@ -28,7 +28,7 @@ public inductive Mode where
 /-- The standard callbacks for a mode, available for programmatic adaptation. -/
 public def Mode.hooks (mode : Mode) (rules : Array (TSyntax `term) := #[]) : Hooks :=
   match mode with
-  | .search => Continuations.hooks rules <| Critics.hooks
+  | .search => InductionPlan.evidenceFirst <| Continuations.hooks rules <| Critics.hooks
       (InductionPlan.hooks
         (Scheduling.preparations (RecursionScheduling.hooks (activate := fun goals => do
           return (← Scheduling.exposesMoves Critics.propose goals) ||