Lucknow, Oct. 25 -- Samajwadi Party national president Akhilesh Yadav on Saturday called on the Election Commission of India to take cognizance of the "thousands of affidavits" his party had submitted regarding alleged electoral malpractices and irregularities. He described recent developments as a "good start" In a post on X, the former Uttar Pradesh chief minister said, "Well, that's a good start - now perhaps the Election Commission will also take cognizance of the thousands of affidavits we've gathered regarding electoral malpractices and scams." The Samajwadi Party has repeatedly raised concerns over the transparency of the electoral process, alleging voter suppression, administrative bias and discrepancies during polling. Party leaders claim these irregularities have been documented through signed affidavits from affected voters and polling agents across several constituencies. On October 23, Yadav accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of resorting to electoral malpractice in the MLC graduate and teacher constituency elections. He alleged that the administration and certain officials had colluded to prevent voters from casting their ballots. The Samajwadi Party national president claimed that teachers and graduate voters were angry with the ruling party in Uttar Pradesh and had voted against it in large numbers. Anticipating defeat in several districts, including Agra, Fatehpur, Etawah, Auraiya, Muzaffarnagar, Ghaziabad and Noida, the ruling party had allegedly turned to rigging, he said. "They know that the public has caught on to their 'vote theft,' so the administration and corrupt officials have colluded to try to prevent people from casting their votes," Yadav told reporters. He maintained that despite these alleged efforts, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would still lose. Polling for 11 Legislative Council seats concluded on Friday under multi-tier security. Counting is scheduled for October 27. Responding to Union home minister Amit Shah's remark that the Opposition was trying to protect the voting rights of infiltrators, Yadav said India's spirit of brotherhood, culture and "Hindustaniyat" would endure....