Launching a scathing attack on the Election Commission of India (ECI) a day after it froze the Trinamool Congress poll symbol, Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has accused the poll panel of “colluding” with the BJP.
“First Shiv Sena, then NCP, and now Trinamool Congress. The pattern is the same every time-the BJP and the Election Commission collude to split a party. Then, its election symbol is snatched away. Gandhi posted on X. As the commission began proceedings to determine which group represents the recognised political party, it identified two groups, one led by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee and the other by Arup Roy, who has been named party chairperson by the group of Ritabrata Banerjee, currently recognised as Leader of Opposition in the Assembly.
Neither faction — one led by former chief minister Mamata Banerjee, the other consisting of Ritabrata Banerjee and others — can thus use the party symbol in the bypolls for Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal slated for October 6.
Amid contesting claims from two factions, the Election Commission on Thursday froze the “flower” symbol of the Trinamool Congress. Throwing his weight behind the embattled Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, the Leader of Opposition said that it’s not her fight alone. “This fight is not just Mamata Banerjee’s; it is the fight of every political party and every voter who desires free and fair elections,” Gandhi stated. Linking the development to his campaign around alleged “vote chori”, Gandhi said that “stolen party” is another symbol of “democratic decline”.
