Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Monday accused the Election Commission (EC) of ignoring repeated complaints of electoral malpractice and colluding with the BJP to “loot votes.”

Yadav’s remarks came as INDIA bloc MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, and Sharad Pawar, marched towards the EC office protesting voter roll irregularities in Bihar. Police blocked the protestors with barricades before they could reach the poll panel.

Speaking at Parliament, Yadav alleged that during Uttar Pradesh elections and a recent bypoll, officials acted on caste lines to benefit the BJP, with plainclothes police casting votes and SP workers being forcibly stopped. He claimed 18,000 SP votes were deleted in the 2022 Assembly elections, despite those voters being active in 2019. “We gave the EC a list with affidavits, but no action was taken,” he said.

Yadav also referred to a photo from Rampur showing a policeman allegedly pointing a revolver at voters. He urged swift action: “Don’t move at a turtle’s pace. If voting rights are lost, democracy is lost.” SP MPs staged a protest in Parliament. MP Dimple Yadav added, “We want the EC to wake up to the ongoing vote loot.”