Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress and a rebel bloc led by West Bengal opposition leader Ritabrata Banerjee submitted rival National Action Committee lists to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday, demanding legal control of the party, setting off a formal dispute over the party’s name, origins and election symbol.
On Monday afternoon, the rebel faction, which had the support of 65 of the party’s 80 legislators, held a session at a hotel in New Town, Kolkata. The legislators voted by voice vote to remove party founder Mamata Banerjee from the post of party president, electing Howrah Central legislator Arup Roy to the post. Roy served as a minister in the Trinamool Congress government from 2011 to 2026. The rebels have cited a constitutional crisis under Article 20 of the party’s constitution, noting that the three-year term of the previous National Working Committee, which was formed in February 2022, has expired.
The group’s MLAs visited West Bengal’s chief electoral officer on Tuesday evening to submit a letter demanding recognition as the official All India Trinamool Congress and rights to the double-flower election symbol.
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“I cannot comment on the letter they submitted to the EC, but so far people have seen that every time they form a new committee, the members resign and leave. I can say with certainty that the majority of TMC MLAs are with us,” Ritabrata Banerjee said outside the office.
To counter the move, Mamata Banerjee’s camp sent a revised list to the Election Commission of India on Monday night, marked “as on June 20, 2026”, retaining her as president and Abhishek Banerjee as national general secretary.
A Trinamool Congress MP, requesting anonymity, said the document names Subrata Bakshi as vice-president, Derek O’Brien and Dula Sen as joint secretaries, and former MP Subhashish Chakraborty as treasurer. Aroop Biswas has been dropped from this revised list.
Mamata Banerjee’s camp described his submission as an “original but minority” list, acknowledging his numerical weakness within the legislative wing.
Leaders and legislators started joining the rebels after the party lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the assembly elections. The initial committee formed by Mamata Banerjee collapsed earlier this month after former ministers Firhad Hakim and Arup Biswas defected to the rebel faction.
The request submitted by the rebel faction to the EC includes the names of an expanded National Action Committee from 10 to 30 members, with Firhad Hakim, Arup Biswas, Ratin Ghosh and Sabina Yasmin as vice-chairs. On Monday, Ritabrata Banerjee also appointed himself, Biplab Mitra, Javed Khan and Sandipan Saha as general secretaries and Akhiruzzaman Ansari as treasurer.
“Who is Abhishek Banerjee?” Ritabrata said when asked about the Diamond Harbor MP, but added that Mamata Banerjee was welcome to be his group’s “key advisor”. On June 12, former treasurer Arup Biswas wrote to HDFC Bank requesting that the primary accounts held by it be frozen. $676 crore, citing uncertainty over the approved signatories among rival groups. The bank did not initially act on this request because Mamata Banerjee’s faction informed it of the removal of Biswas from the post of treasurer and the appointment of Subhashish Chakraborty in his place in a meeting held on June 5. However, when the police acted on several complaints from the rebel faction, the bank blocked withdrawals and spending by both factions. While donations can still be received, funds remain locked pending an ECI ruling. Civil suits will be required to distribute physical assets following ECI rules on name and symbol.
Senior IEC officials, who requested anonymity, said the commission would adjudicate the competing claims under Section 15 of the Electoral Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, using the dual test of Sadiq Ali v. IEC (1971) to examine strength in the regulatory and legislative wings. The rebel faction has 81% of the Trinamool Congress legislators and 71% of its members in the Lok Sabha.
This comes in the wake of 20 Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha members in Delhi announcing that they have joined the National Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and will support the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), attributing the crisis to Abhishek Banerjee’s modus operandi.
Under ECI rules, the winning faction inherits the party name, double flower symbol, registered voter base and official recognition, while the losing faction must register as a new party under a temporary free symbol. The ECI could alternatively freeze the symbol entirely as an interim measure, following precedents set during the Shiv Sena’s split in October 2022 and the Nationalist Congress Party’s split in 2023.
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The rebel legislators, including Ritabrata Banerjee, Hakeem, Sabina Yasmin and Soha, participated in the assembly budget session discussion on the governor’s speech on Tuesday. Mamata Banerjee’s camp informed Assembly Speaker Rathendra Nath Bose that Kamarhati MLA Madan Mitra should replace Hakim as chief whip. Al-Hakim was nominated as chief whip before joining the rebels. Speaker of the House of Representatives Boss rejected the appeal, noting that the matter was subject to the judiciary.
On June 3, the Speaker recognized 58 rebel lawmakers as the main opposition party in the House of Representatives. Ritabrata Banerjee and Soha, who were expelled by the party on June 1, have been recognized as leader and deputy leader of the opposition respectively. These developments happened 29 days after the BJP won 207 assembly seats against the Trinamool Congress’ 80 seats. The expulsions occurred on June 1 minutes after Prime Minister Suvendu Adhikari said that a written complaint from the duo had triggered a Criminal Investigation Department (CID) investigation into the forging of signatures on the May 19 resolution nominating Subhandeep Chattopadhyay as leader of the opposition.
The Alipore court in Kolkata stayed the expulsions, while the Calcutta High Court on June 18 rejected the Trinamool Congress’ request for a temporary stay on the recognition of Ritabrata Banerjee as opposition leader.
Both cases remain pending, with the next Supreme Court hearing scheduled for July 28. Ritabrata Banerjee announced plans to establish distinct local committees, a government unit, and a panel of spokespersons.
