New Delhi, Sept. 18 -- Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed the Election Commission over its decision of directing rival Trinamool Congress factions to not use the party name and the "flowers and grass symbol" during the West Bengal bypolls, saying the poll body's constitutional responsibility is to protect the mandate but instead, it is aiding those very forces that overturn the people's verdict.
"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," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X. When an entire party can be stolen, it's hardly surprising that the votes of crores of Indians can be stolen too, the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said. "Vote chori. Government chori. Now party chori - these have become symbols of our democratic decline," Gandhi said.
"The ECI's constitutional responsibility is to protect the mandate but instead, it's aiding those very forces that overturn the people's verdict," he said. "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. The Congress on Thursday condemned the Election Commission's decision of directing rival All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) factions to not use the party name and the "flowers and grass symbol" during the West Bengal bypolls, alleging that it was abdication of constitutional responsibility by the poll body. The Congress had further said freezing the AITC name and symbol is CEC Gyanesh Kumar's "late night birthday gift" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Election Commission has directed rival factions of the AITC not to use the party name and symbol during the bypolls, and asked them to submit their preferred names and symbols by Friday morning. In its interim order issued on Thursday night, the Commission, after hearing leaders of the two factions led by Mamata Banerjee and Arup Roy, said the matter requires substantive determination by the poll body under provisions of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968. In its interim order, the EC said, "On due consideration of the totality of information available on record... the Commission is of the opinion that there are two rival groups in the All India Trinamool Congress, one led by Ms. Mamata Banerjee and the other led by Shri Arup Roy." "Each group is now claiming to be the party, and therefore the matter requires a substantive determination by the Commission under Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation & Allotment) Order 1968," it said.
Accordingly, the Commission said, to place both the rival groups on an even keel and to protect their rights and interests and going by the past precedent, the Commission gave its interim order to cover the purpose of the current by-elections and to continue till the final determination of the dispute in the matter. "Neither of the two groups led by Shri Arup Roy (Petitioner) and the other led by Ms. Mamata Banerjee (Respondent) shall be permitted to use the name of the party 'All India Trinamool Congress'. "Neither of the two groups shall also be permitted to use the symbol 'Flowers and Grass', reserved for 'All India Trinamool Congress'," the Commission said.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.