The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) has submitted three alternative party names and two symbol options to the Election Commission of India (ECI), after the poll panel temporarily froze the party’s name and its “flowers and grass” symbol ahead of the October 6 bypolls.
Sources said the faction submitted its choices at 11.36 pm on Thursday, well before the 11 am deadline on Friday.
According to the sources, the faction led by Mamata Banerjee put forward three names and two symbols for consideration by the ECI.
One of the proposed names, “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress”, has been confirmed, while the faction’s preferred symbol is associated with football. Its second choice is also linked to sports.
At the same time, the TMC faction headed by Bengal Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee suggested “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and “Nationalist Trinamool Congress” as possible new names, along with three symbol options.
The Election Commission is likely to announce its decisions on the names and symbols for both factions later in the day.
Mamata Banerjee founded the TMC in 1998 after leaving the Congress. Since then, the hand-drawn “flowers and grass” symbol has become strongly identified with the party’s grassroots image.
Mamata’s faction has lodged a “strong protest” against the ECI’s interim decision. Bengal BJP president Samik Bhattacharya, however, called the development “divine justice”, pointing to a previous TMC directive in North 24 Parganas that prohibited the sale of products carrying images of a lotus flower.
“This is divine justice. Remember once Trinamool had issued a diktat across North 24 Parganas banning the sale of items featuring images of a lotus flower. It makes no difference to the people whether the TMC symbol remains or is gone, because there is no party called Trinamool any more; Trinamool is dead—Trinamool is finished,” Bhattacharya said.
The latest developments follow an internal revolt within the TMC after the party performed poorly in the May Assembly elections.
Ritabrata Banerjee, a first-time MLA who was subsequently expelled by the TMC, became the prominent face of the rebellion. In June, he claimed the backing of around 60 of the party’s 80 MLAs in the state Assembly. The rebel MLAs supported him as the TMC legislature party leader, after which the Assembly Speaker recognised him as the Leader of the Opposition.
The rebel group maintained that Mamata Banerjee would remain their overall leader but demanded changes in the way the party was run and objected to the influence of her nephew and TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
Ritabrata had also stated that the rebels initially had no intention of breaking away from the TMC.
The internal revolt eventually expanded into a larger organisational confrontation. On June 22, the Ritabrata-led faction claimed to have removed Mamata Banerjee as TMC chairperson and appointed senior MLA Arup Roy as the chairperson of what it described as the “real TMC”.
Mamata’s supporters rejected the decision and continued to recognise her as the party’s chief.
