LUCKNOW: After the poor performance of the opposition bloc in the recently concluded Bihar Assembly elections, the Samajwadi Party has intensified its tirade against the ruling BJP in Uttar Pradesh, with party chief Akhilesh Yadav alleging irregularities in SIR here on Saturday.

He accused the Election Commission of India of working in collusion with the ruling party and “cooking up a major scam” in the form of SIR.

The SP chief alleged that in Assembly seats where the party was strong and had emerged victorious, nearly 50,000 votes were being deleted. “Such preparations are underway in UP and West Bengal,” he claimed.

Akhilesh said, “Right now, we are entangled in SIR. We will have to fight the paper battle as well; we have to win elections.”

Taking a veiled jibe at the attire of UP Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Akhilesh said he was ready to “jump in the ring whenever asked,” but some people’s attire was such that “they would not even be able to jump.”

Akhilesh Yadav was interacting with media persons on SP patriarch late Mulayam Singh Yadav’s 85th birth anniversary here on Saturday.

“We have seen the role of the Election Commission in the by-elections. In 2022, voters' names were removed on a large scale. The Election Commission should issue SOPs to political parties about what to do and how to do it,” he said, demanding an extension of the time allotted for conducting SIR.