Mamata camp submits alternatives after EC freezes symbol (Img: Dynamite News)
New Delhi: The Trinamool Congress, led by party founder and chairperson Mamata Banerjee, has submitted its response to the Election Commission’s interim order temporarily barring the use of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) name and its “flowers and grass” symbol in the upcoming West Bengal bypolls.
The party emailed its preferred choices of alternative names and symbols to the poll panel at 11.36 pm on Thursday, submitting them “under strongest protest”, according to sources. The Election Commission had asked both rival factions to provide their choices after freezing the party’s name and symbol pending a final decision on the dispute.
In its interim order, the Election Commission directed the rival groups to contest the October 6 bypolls without using the AITC name or its reserved “flowers and grass” symbol. The two factions have been asked to submit three choices each for party names and free symbols, from which the poll panel will make the allotments.
The EC said the interim arrangement was necessitated by the urgency of the upcoming bypolls while proceedings under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, remain pending. The arrangement will apply to the upcoming elections until the dispute over the party’s identity is finally determined.
The order comes amid a deepening internal dispute within the Trinamool Congress, with rival factions staking claims to the party’s organisational structure, name and election symbol. The Election Commission has treated the competing claims as a dispute requiring determination under Paragraph 15.
The move affects a party identity that has been closely associated with Mamata Banerjee since the Trinamool Congress was formed in 1998 after her break with the Congress. The “flowers and grass” symbol has since become an established part of the party’s electoral identity.
The immediate impact will be felt in the October 6 bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar, where candidates from the rival camps will have to contest under separate names and symbols instead of the AITC identity.
The EC’s interim order does not constitute a final determination on which faction is entitled to the original party name and symbol. The larger dispute will continue to be examined under the applicable provisions of the Symbols Order.
