Former West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission of India’s decision to bar her faction from using the original All India Trinamool Congress name and its traditional ‘Flowers and Grass’ symbol amid an ongoing dispute over control of the party, reported news agency ANI.
The move comes after the EC issued an interim order freezing the use of the TMC name and its reserved symbol by both rival factions for the upcoming bypolls. The Commission had said the dispute would require a substantive determination under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
On Friday, the poll panel allotted the Mamata Banerjee-led faction the name “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” and the ‘Football Player’ symbol. The rival faction led by Arup Roy was allotted the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and the ‘Envelope’ symbol for the October 6 bypolls.
The EC’s arrangement is interim and will remain in force until it takes a final decision on the competing claims over the party’s identity, name and symbol. The Commission had said that there was insufficient time to complete the proceedings under Paragraph 15 before the bypolls and therefore put both factions on separate electoral footing for the time being.
Banerjee had on Friday described the EC’s decision as a “Black Day” in the country’s democratic history and said she would continue to claim the original party name and symbol.
“We will not surrender. We will not bow our heads before political pressure. We will fight this battle democratically and legally,” she said, according to The New Indian Express.
She also said the organisation was built through nearly three decades of political struggle and that she could not abandon the All India Trinamool Congress, which she founded in 1998 after breaking away from the Congress.
The dispute over the party’s identity followed a rebellion within the TMC after its defeat in the West Bengal Assembly elections earlier this year. The rival camp has staked its claim to control of the party, with the EC examining competing submissions on its organisational structure, authorised representatives, name and election symbol.
The EC’s intervention was prompted by the approaching bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal, and Nagaon in Assam. Both factions had sought to contest under the original TMC identity, prompting the Commission to issue an interim arrangement before the elections.
The legal challenge also comes as the TMC’s political crisis deepens. Banerjee’s faction has decided to support the Congress candidate in the Nandigram bypoll after its own nominee withdrew from the contest. Banerjee said the decision was intended to strengthen the INDIA bloc.
The Supreme Court challenge will now bring the dispute over the TMC’s original name and symbol before the judiciary, while the EC’s substantive proceedings under Paragraph 15 remain pending.
(With inputs from ANI)