NEW DELHI: Former West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court against the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) decision to freeze the party’s name and election symbol.
The plea is likely to be mentioned before the Chief Justice of India-led Bench on September 21 for urgent listing and hearing.
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 in two West Bengal Assembly constituencies, Nandigram and Rejinagar.
In an interim order on Thursday, the Election Commission barred the rival factions from using the original name of the All India Trinamool Congress and its ‘Flowers and Grass’ symbol for the upcoming bypolls. The factions were directed to choose new names and symbols until the dispute is resolved.
The EC’s Thursday order said, “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.”
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)
