New Delhi, Sept. 18 -- Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India, following the ECI's interim order to freeze the name and "Flowers and Grass" symbol of All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), saying that "party theft" has joined vote and government theft as a defining mark of India's democratic decline.

In a post on X, Gandhi accused the BJP and ECI of acting in tandem to dismantle opposition forces.

"First 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. When an entire party can be stole...