Mamata moves Supreme Court against ECI freeze on TMC name, symbol

• Mamata Banerjee has challenged the ECI’s decision to freeze the TMC’s original name and ‘Flowers and Grass’ symbol.

• The ECI has allotted Banerjee’s faction the ‘Football Player’ symbol and the rival faction the ‘Envelope’ for the October 6 by-polls.

• The substantive dispute over the original TMC name and symbol remains pending before the ECI.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) founder and former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) interim decision to freeze the TMC’s name and its traditional ‘flowers and grass’ symbol amid a dispute between rival factions of the party.

The poll panel on Friday, 18 September allotted separate names and symbols to the two factions, a day after directing both groups not to use the ‘All India Trinamool Congress’ name and its reserved symbol pending a substantive determination of the dispute under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

The faction led by Banerjee was allotted the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘football player’ symbol, while the rival faction was given the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘envelope’ symbol for the 6 October by-polls in Nandigram and Rejinagar.

In her plea before the apex court, Banerjee has made the ECI and Ritabrata Banerjee, the leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, respondents. The petition challenges the poll panel’s interim order issued after it heard representatives of the two rival factions. The ECI said the dispute required substantive determination under the Symbols Order.

The development follows Banerjee’s sharp criticism of the ECI on Thursday, when she described the freezing of the party’s name and ‘flowers and grass’ symbol as a "black day" in the country’s democratic history. She said she would not accept the interim arrangement as a settlement and would continue the fight to reclaim the party’s original identity and symbol through political, democratic and legal means.

The ECI’s decision means that neither faction will contest the forthcoming by-polls using the party’s original name and symbol. The new names and symbols are an interim arrangement for the current electoral process.

The by-polls in Nandigram in East Midnapore district and Rejinagar in Murshidabad district are scheduled for 6 October, with counting on 9 October.

The dispute follows a rebellion within the TMC legislature party after the party's Assembly election defeat in May, which subsequently spread to Parliament. In June, rebel MLAs elected Ritabrata Banerjee as leader of the Opposition instead of the Mamata camp’s nominee Sovandeb Chattopadhyay. The speaker subsequently recognised Banerjee in the post.

The rebellion later reached Parliament, with a group of Lok Sabha MPs backing the formation of a separate bloc, deepening the split within the party’s parliamentary ranks.

With PTI inputs