TMC symbol row: EC to hear rival factions today ahead of Bengal bypolls

Kolkata, Sep 17 (PTI) The battle for the Trinamool Congress' organisational identity and its 'twin-flowers on grass' symbol enters a potentially decisive phase, with the Election Commission set to hear the rival Mamata Banerjee and Ritabrata Banerjee factions separately in New Delhi on Thursday.

The Ritabrata-led camp has been summoned before the poll panel's full bench at 3 pm, while the Mamata Banerjee-led faction will appear an hour later, sources said.

"We will place our views there. We are hopeful," rebel TMC camp MLA Sandipan Saha told PTI.

A senior member of the Mamata camp also confirmed that its five-member delegation has been summoned at 4 pm.

The senior MP alleged that the Election Commission was deliberately delaying the matter despite having all the relevant evidence and documents, and was "trying to create a lot of noise" around the issue.

The back-to-back hearings come after both factions submitted documents and legal material to the commission, and hours after the September 16 deadline for filing nominations to the October 6 bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar assembly seats.

The timing has added urgency to a dispute that is no longer confined to organisational control. The immediate question is whether either faction will enter the bypolls with the "Jora Ghas Phul (twin-flowers on grass)" symbol, or whether the commission will put the symbol on hold pending a final determination.

The Mamata camp has maintained that the party's organisational committees remain valid under its constitution, while the Ritabrata faction has staked claim to being the legitimate TMC, citing its support among elected representatives.

The commission has been examining the rival claims since the Ritabrata camp first approached it with its case earlier this year.

The dispute has acquired an unusual electoral dimension - candidates backed by the two factions have already been announced for both constituencies, even though the question of which side can use the established party identity remains unresolved.

For the TMC, Nandigram is particularly consequential. The seat is inseparable from the party's political history, having been the epicentre of the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement that helped propel the TMC to power and ultimately contributed to the Left Front's defeat after 34 years in government.

The Rejinagar contest, meanwhile, offers another immediate test of the organisational split. With both factions seeking to establish themselves on the ground, the bypolls could become the first electoral arena in which the rival claims to the TMC's legacy are tested simultaneously.

According to leaders of both the camps, the commission's options could have consequences beyond the two bypolls.

If it recognises one faction's claim, the other could be required to contest under a different name and symbol. If no immediate determination is made, the possibility of the existing symbol being frozen and both sides being allotted temporary electoral identities cannot be ruled out, according to leaders from both the camps.

A similar course was adopted by the Commission during the Shiv Sena dispute in Maharashtra, when rival factions were denied the original party name and symbol pending adjudication and were allotted separate identities.

The TMC dispute has already travelled through several rounds of submissions and hearings. A 10-member Ritabrata-led delegation appeared before the Commission on July 2 after the faction claimed majority support and sought control of the party's organisation and assets.

The poll panel subsequently sought responses from both sides, with the Mamata camp rejecting the dissidents' claim and asserting the validity of its organisational structure.

The commission heard both factions again on September 12 and subsequently sought additional material before the September 16 deadline.

With the nomination process now over, Thursday's hearing assumes added significance. Whatever course the Commission adopts could determine not merely the symbol appearing on the ballot papers in Nandigram and Rejinagar, but also how the two rival camps present themselves to voters in the run-up to the civic elections expected later this year.

For both sides, therefore, Thursday's appearance is about much more than a party emblem - it is a contest over who gets to carry the TMC name and political inheritance into the next electoral battle. PTI