Mamata Takes TMC Name-Symbol Fight to Supreme Court

New Delhi, September 19, 2026 The dispute over the Trinamool Congress’ organisational identity has moved to the Supreme Court after former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenged the Election Commission’s interim decision concerning the party’s name and reserved symbol. The dispute between rival factions comes ahead of the October 6 Assembly bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar. The Election Commission has temporarily barred both factions from using the ‘All India Trinamool Congress’ name and the reserved ‘Jora Ghash Phul’ (Flowers and Grass) symbol while it considers the larger organisational dispute. The poll panel said the matter requires a substantive determination under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. For the upcoming bypolls, the two groups have been given separate identities. The faction led by Mamata Banerjee has been allotted ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘Football Player’ symbol. The rival faction has been allotted ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘Envelope’ symbol. The arrangement is interim and applies to the election process currently underway. Reacting to the EC decision on September 18, Banerjee criticised the freezing of the party’s established identity. She compared the loss of the party’s name and symbol to the pain of a mother losing her child and called it a “black day” in the country’s democratic history. Banerjee had also said she would not treat the interim arrangement as a settlement and would continue the fight to reclaim the party’s original identity and its ‘flowers-and-grass’ symbol through political, democratic and legal means. The Election Commission’s intervention follows a split within the TMC’s organisational and legislative ranks after the party’s defeat in the May Assembly elections. In June, 58 rebel MLAs elected expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly instead of the Mamata camp’s nominee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, and secured recognition from the Speaker. The dispute subsequently extended to Parliament, with 20 Lok Sabha MPs led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar joining the little-known NCPI and writing to Speaker Om Birla in support of the BJP-led NDA as a “separate bloc.” The immediate electoral test is scheduled for October 6, when voters in Nandigram and Rejinagar will cast their ballots. Counting is scheduled for October 9. The bypolls were necessitated after Suvendu Adhikari vacated Nandigram and AJUP leader Humayun Kabir gave up the Rejinagar seat after winning from two constituencies. Banerjee’s Supreme Court petition names the Election Commission and West Bengal Assembly Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee as respondents. The court proceedings will now be closely watched as the broader dispute over the TMC’s original name, symbol and organisational identity moves into the judicial arena.