NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to deliver its final decision in the ongoing dispute over the All India Trinamool Congress party name and "flowers and grass" symbol within four months.
The bench asked both parties to file their affidavits/counter-affidavits before the poll panel within four weeks. In other words, the pleadings should be completed within four weeks.
The bench directed the ECI to decide the issue within three months after the parties complete their pleadings.
The top court passed the direction during the hearing of a plea filed by former West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC founder Mamata Banerjee, who questioned the ECI order freezing the party symbol ahead of by-elections.
The Commission in the top court defended the freeze as an interim arrangement until the dispute is decided finally.
To support its stand on timelines, the ECI handed the court a chart of previous symbol disputes and the time taken for their disposal, stating this was not an unprecedented situation.
The court on Monday -- during the course of the hearing -- observed that Banerjee's camp had complied by filing its response, whereas the rival faction had not yet filed. It therefore granted the rival faction four weeks to submit its reply.
Thereafter, the ECI must decide the matter within three months after that. The bench clarified that it had not expressed any opinion on which faction is entitled to the symbol, leaving the merits entirely for the Commission to examine in accordance with law.
On September 18, Banerjee had knocked the doors of the top court against the Election Commission of India's (ECI) decision in freezing TMC's election symbol.
The ECI had on September 17, restrained the use of original party name and symbol of TMC.
In an interim decision on Sept 18, the Election Commission ordered a freeze on the name and election symbol of the All India Trinamool Congress, and directed the two rival factions to select new names and symbols until the dispute is resolved.
The EC’s decision comes 10 days after it announced bypolls in two Assembly constituencies in the state of West Bengal — Nandigram and Rejinagar — on October 6. Both the factions, led by Banerjee and Arup Roy, have nominated candidates for the bypolls.
The EC's Thursday order said that on due consideration of the totality of information available on record…the Commission is of the opinion that there are two rival groups in the All India Trinamool Congress, one led by Ms Mamata Banerjee and the other led by Shri Arup Roy, and each group is now claiming to be the party, and therefore the matter requires a substantive determination by the Commission under Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation & Allotment) Order 1968.