The Election Commission is likely to announce its decision on Thursday on the dispute between two rival factions of the Trinamool Congress over the party’s name and election symbol.
The poll panel’s decision assumes significance as the factions led by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee seek recognition ahead of the crucial bypolls scheduled for October 6.
The Commission has agreed to hear delegations from both factions at Nirvachan Sadan in New Delhi on Thursday before taking a final decision on the matter.
According to reports, the Ritabrata-led camp has been summoned before the Election Commission’s full bench at 3 pm, while the Mamata Banerjee-led faction is scheduled to appear an hour later.
Ritabrata heads a group of around 60 of the 80 newly elected TMC MLAs who distanced themselves from Mamata Banerjee following the party’s defeat to the BJP in the Assembly polls held in April.
Both factions have since staked claim to being the “real” Trinamool Congress and have approached the Election Commission seeking recognition as the party’s legitimate leadership. The Commission has already held several rounds of meetings with representatives of both camps.
The bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar have emerged as an important test on the ground for the rival factions as they seek to establish control over the party organization and support from the party workers. Both groups have announced candidates for the two seats, even as the question of which faction can use the established party identity remains unresolved.
Political circles are closely watching whether either faction will be granted the “Jora Ghas Phul” (twin flowers on grass) symbol, or whether the Commission will keep the symbol in abeyance pending a final determination.
If the Commission recognises one faction’s claim, the other could be required to contest the bypolls under a different name and symbol. If no immediate decision is taken, the possibility of the existing symbol being frozen and both factions being allotted temporary electoral identities cannot be ruled out.
The Commission had adopted a similar course in Maharashtra, where rival factions of the Shiv Sena—led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde—were denied the original party name and symbol pending adjudication and were allotted separate identities.
In the Sena dispute, the Commission temporarily froze the party’s ‘bow and arrow’ symbol for the Andheri (East) Assembly bypoll, held on November 3, 2022. It allotted the ‘flaming torch’ symbol and the name ‘Shiv Sena – Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray’ to the Thackeray faction, while the Shinde faction was allotted the name ‘Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena’ and the ‘two swords and shield’ symbol.
In its final verdict in 2023, the Commission allotted the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and the party’s traditional ‘bow and arrow’ symbol to the Shinde faction. The Thackeray faction continued to be identified as ‘Shiv Sena (UBT)’.
