TMC leader and West Bengal Opposition leader Ritabrata Banerjee on Tuesday asserted that there is no ambiguity about which faction represents the “real” Trinamool Congress, a day after his group submitted a list of members of the party’s National Working Committee to the Election Commission of India (ECI).
Banerjee claimed that the majority of the party’s elected representatives in West Bengal were aligned with his faction and rejected suggestions that his group would need to claim the TMC’s electoral symbol.
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“It is a routine process. When there is a special session or any session, the Election Commission of India and the state body also have to be informed about it. So this is a normal process. We have just followed what needs to be done… We are the Trinamool Congress. So, there is no question of claiming the party symbol,” Banerjee told a press conference.
On Monday, the rebel faction, which claims the support of 65 of the party’s 80 members, held a meeting at a hotel in New Town, Kolkata. During the session, lawmakers voted by voice vote to remove party founder Mamata Banerjee from the post of president and elect Howrah Central MLA Arup Roy to the post.
The rebels argued that a constitutional crisis had emerged under Article 20 of the party’s constitution, considering that the three-year term of office of the National Working Committee formed in February 2022 had expired.
Earlier, Ritabrata had said that Mamata would be welcome to serve as chief advisor to TMC.
Mamata replaces the Working Committee list with another list
Shortly after the rebel camp submitted its list to the Election Commission of India, Mamata Banerjee’s faction sent a revised list on Monday night, marked “as on June 20, 2026”, retaining Mamata as president and Abhishek Banerjee as national general secretary. Mamata’s faction described his submission as the “original but minority” list, acknowledging its weaker position within the legislative wing.
Who has the right to keep the party name?
Senior IEC officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the commission would examine the competing claims under Section 15 of the Electoral Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968. The assessment would be based on the binary test laid out in Sadiq Ali v. Independent Electoral Commission (1971), which assesses support in both the regulatory and legislative wings. According to the rebel faction, it enjoys the support of 81% of TMC legislators and 71% of party MPs in the Lok Sabha.
