Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav has stepped up his own confrontation with the poll body.

Yadav submitted an affidavit to the Election Commission of India (EC) flagging what he described as serious irregularities in the voter list.

According to Yadav, the Samajwadi Party compiled a district-wise list of deleted names, including thousands from a single assembly segment.

On Sunday, Yadav took to X to question the Commission’s claim that it had not received affidavits submitted by his party.

“The Election Commission is claiming that they have not received the affidavits provided by the Samajwadi Party in UP; they should check the acknowledgment receipt issued by their own office as proof of receipt of our affidavits. This time, we demand that the Election Commission provide an affidavit stating that the digital receipt sent to us is authentic, otherwise, not only the ‘Election Commission’ but also ‘Digital India’ will come under suspicion. If BJP goes, truth will prevail!,” he wrote as he posted the acknowledgement slip online.

Rahul Gandhi, who has already accused the EC of colluding with the ruling party, amplified Yadav’s post with a sharp remark: “‘Affidavit’ is just an excuse to cover up vote theft!”

The leader of Opposition has been on the offensive since July 31, when he presented what he called evidence of “vote chori” during a news conference.

Citing data from the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Rahul claimed that over one lakh votes were “stolen” in Karnataka’s Mahadevapura assembly segment through five kinds of manipulation, including duplicate entries, fake or invalid addresses, and single-address voters.

He alleged that similar practices were visible in other states as well.

The ECI responded with a demand that Rahul back his statements with a sworn declaration.

“Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should either give a declaration under oath within seven days on his allegations of irregularities in the voter list, else his 'vote theft' claims would be rendered baseless and invalid,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said Sunday.

“If anyone wishes to file a complaint without being a voter of that constituency, it can be done only as a witness under oath,” he added.

Rahul has so far refused to file an affidavit. Addressing a gathering in Sasaram on the first day of his Voter Adhikar Yatra, he claimed the poll body was shielding the BJP.

“They (EC) held a press conference. I want to ask them why did the government change the law on CCTV footage of election process,” he said.

The Congress MP also drew attention to the 2023 legislation that, he argued, insulated election commissioners from scrutiny.

“The Modi government brought in a law in 2023 to ensure that no one can take action against an election commissioner as the EC is ‘helping’ the BJP and ‘indulging in vote chori’ along with them,” Rahul said.

He also questioned why the demand for an affidavit was directed only at him.

“While I was asked to submit an affidavit after my press conference exposing ‘vote chori’, no such demand was made from BJP leader Anurag Thakur who made similar claims in his presser,” Gandhi told supporters.