First vote chori, now party chori: Rahul Gandhi on EC freezing TMC symbol, name

Rahul Gandhi has criticised the Election Commission after it froze the Trinamool Congress name and symbol for the West Bengal bypolls.

In Short

• Rahul Gandhi accuses ECI, BJP of collusion to split parties before elections
• Compares the move to previous cases involving Shiv Sena, NCP
• He says ECI is aiding forces that overturn people's mandate

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked the Election Commission of India (ECI) over its move to freeze the Trinamool Congress's name and its “flowers and grass” symbol for the October 6 bypolls in West Bengal.

In a post on X, the Congress leader said, "Vote chori, sarkar chori, ab party chori (First vote theft, government theft, and now party theft). These have become symbols of our democratic decline."

Gandhi accused the ECI and the BJP of joining forces to split political parties before their election symbols were taken away, saying that a similar pattern had played out earlier in the cases of the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.

“When an entire party can be stolen, it's hardly surprising that the votes of millions of Indians can be stolen too,” he said.

The Congress MP went on to say that the poll body's constitutional responsibility was to protect the mandate, but added that the ECI was instead “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,” he added.

The ECI, in its interim order issued on Thursday night, directed the rival TMC factions - one led by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the other by the Bengal Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee - not to use the party’s name or its “flowers and grass” symbol during the bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar.

Both camps have fielded candidates seeking to contest under the established TMC identity.

Ahead of the poll body's deadline of 11 am Friday, the Mamata Banerjee-led faction submitted an alternative name and symbol, while strongly protesting against the interim order.

On Thursday as well, shortly after the freeze order, the Congress called the move Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s “late night birthday gift” to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

- Ends