Lucknow, Oct. 6 -- Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav on Tuesday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the BJP, alleging that the poll panel was not functioning impartially and accusing the ruling party of defending the Commission because it "manipulates the system through them."

Yadav's remarks came after he participated in the INDIA bloc's march towards the Election Commission headquarters in New Delhi earlier in the day. The Opposition MPs were stopped by barricades from entering Nirvachan Sadan, following which several leaders, including Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and Congress general secretary KC Venugopal, staged a sit-in at the nearby...