EC seeks more documents from Ritabrata faction in Trinamool Congress dispute

The Election Commission (EC) on Saturday directed the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction to submit additional documents as it heard rival claims over the organisational control, name and symbol of the Trinamool Congress.

Ritabrata Banerjee, the Leader of the Opposition in West Bengal, said his delegation made oral submissions before the full bench of the Election Commission and answered questions raised by the poll panel.

The faction also presented documents during the hearing, following which the commission asked it to furnish further papers before the end of the day.

Representatives of the Mamata Banerjee-led faction also appeared before the Election Commission on Saturday. Its five-member delegation comprised Derek O’Brien, Kalyan Banerjee, Sagarika Ghose, Saket Gokhale and advocate Abhinav Singh.

The dispute centres on the rival factions’ claim to the Trinamool Congress’s organisational leadership and its election symbol.

The hearing assumes significance ahead of the bypolls to the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly constituencies on 6th October. The deadline for filing nominations is 16th September.

Asked whether his faction had received any indication that the symbol dispute would be resolved before the nomination deadline, Ritabrata Banerjee said it had specifically urged the commission to take a decision before that date.

“We have played our role. We have made our submission. We will be giving some more documents today itself. Now we have to wait for the highest apex body to give a ruling,” he said.

Banerjee added that his faction remained confident of securing the TMC symbol.

With PTI inputs