Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Friday criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Election Commission of India (ECI) over the poll panel’s interim order barring rival factions of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) from using the party’s name and “Flowers and Grass” symbol.
In a post on X, Gandhi alleged that the BJP and the ECI were acting together to split opposition parties and deprive them of their election symbols. He referred to earlier disputes involving the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
“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 stolen, it’s hardly surprising that the votes of millions of Indians can be stolen too. Vote theft. Government theft. Now party theft, these have become symbols of our democratic decline,” he said.
पहले शिवसेना, फिर NCP और अब तृणमूल कांग्रेस।
हर बार एक ही पैटर्न – BJP और चुनाव आयोग मिलकर एक पार्टी को तोड़ते हैं। फिर उसका चुनाव चिन्ह छीन लिया जाता है।
जब पूरी की पूरी पार्टी चोरी हो सकती है, तो करोड़ों भारतीयों के वोट चोरी होना भी हैरानी की बात नहीं।
वोट चोरी। सरकार चोरी। अब पार्टी चोरी – ये हमारे लोकतांत्रिक पतन के प्रतीक बन गए हैं।
ECI की संवैधानिक ज़िम्मेदारी जनादेश की रक्षा करना है – मगर उल्टा वो उन ताकतों की मदद कर रहा है, जो जनता के फैसले को ही पलट देते हैं।
यह लड़ाई सिर्फ़ ममता बनर्जी जी की नहीं है। यह हर राजनीतिक दल, हर मतदाता की लड़ाई है जो स्वतंत्र और निष्पक्ष चुनाव चाहता है।
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) September 18, 2026
Gandhi further alleged that the ECI was failing in its constitutional responsibility to protect the electoral mandate and was instead aiding forces seeking to overturn election results.
“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,” he said.
The ECI, in its interim order issued on Thursday, said there were two rival groups claiming to represent the AITC and that the dispute required substantive determination under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
As an interim measure for the ongoing bypoll process, the poll panel barred both factions from using the name “All India Trinamool Congress” and the “Flowers and Grass” symbol. It directed the two groups to submit three preferred names and three free symbols by 11 am on September 18, from which the ECI would approve names and allot symbols.
The order followed a hearing at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi, where representatives of the rival factions presented their submissions before the Commission. The interim arrangement will remain in place until the ECI makes a final determination on the organisational dispute.
