Kolkata, Sep 18 — Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday backed the Trinamool Congress faction led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the party’s Lok Sabha member Abhishek Banerjee after the Election Commission of India (ECI) froze the party’s name and election symbol ahead of next month's Assembly bypolls in the state.
In a social media post, Gandhi accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ECI of following a similar pattern in dealing with opposition parties, alleging that the poll panel had helped split parties and remove their election symbols.
“First, it was Shiv Sena, then NCP, and now Trinamool Congress. Every time, the same pattern. BJP and the Election Commission join forces to split a party. Then its election symbol is snatched away,” Gandhi alleged.
The ECI on Thursday barred both rival TMC factions from using the party’s name, All India Trinamool Congress, and its Flowers and Grass symbol in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly bypolls. The commission said both groups would have to contest under separate names and symbols until the dispute is settled.
Bypolls to the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies are scheduled for October 6.
Gandhi said the developments showed how the alleged “stealing” of an entire political party could raise concerns about the ability to protect the votes of millions of Indians.
“Vote theft. Government theft. Now party theft too. These have become symbols of our democratic decline,” the Leader of Opposition said.
He also targeted the ECI, accusing it of failing to fulfil its constitutional responsibility to protect the electoral mandate.
“The ECI's constitutional responsibility is to protect the mandate, but instead, it's aiding those very forces that overturn the people's verdict. This fight isn't just Mamata Banerjee's. It's the fight of every political party, every voter who wants free and fair elections,” Gandhi said.
Earlier, All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary K.C. Venugopal criticised the ECI over its interim decision to freeze the TMC’s name and symbol.
“Freezing the AITC name and symbol, after all, a blatantly unconstitutional hijack by the BJP, is CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s late-night birthday gift to Modi ji,” Venugopal alleged.
He further alleged that the decision would enable those who had fought the BJP under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership to rebel against her and described the move as an attempt to weaken the party.
Venugopal further accused the ECI of acting as a “puppet” of the BJP and alleged that the poll panel was being used to undermine democracy.