The Congress on Thursday came out in support of former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee after the Election Commission of India issued an interim order freezing the All India Trinamool Congress name and its reserved “Flowers and Grass” symbol. The freeze applies to both rival camps - Banerjee’s group and the rebel faction led by Assembly Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee - ahead of the October 6 bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar.
The Commission said neither group may use the party name “simplicitor” or the reserved symbol until a final decision under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. Both sides have been asked to submit, by 11 am on Friday, three preferred names (they may retain a linkage with the parent party) and three free symbols. The EC described the step as necessary “to place both the rival groups on even keel.”
Congress general secretary (organisation) K. C. Venugopal attacked the order on X, linking it to a wider pattern of intervention against parties that have opposed the BJP.
“Freezing the AITC name and symbol - after a blatantly unconstitutional hijack by the BJP - is CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s late night birthday gift to Modi ji,” he wrote. “Those who fought against the BJP, under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, are now being given the red carpet to rebel against her and commit the unconstitutional sin of defection with the ECI’s help.”
Venugopal added that the Commission had “once again proven that it is nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the BJP - a tool to destroy democracy bit by bit.” He recalled earlier disputes over the Shiv Sena and NCP and said that “whoever opposes the BJP is dealt a fatal blow and their entire electoral existence is snatched away from them.” He demanded that the EC “immediately restore the two leaves symbol to Mamata Banerjee ji.”
AICC media department chairman Pawan Khera quoted the post and sharpened the legal point. “The ECI’s decision to freeze the AITC symbol is not ‘justice’. It is an abdication of its constitutional responsibility,” he said. “The breakaway faction of the AITC has no constitutional basis and hence, no legitimate claim to the AITC symbol. The symbol belongs to the party that bears its name.”
The remarks amount to an unusual public alignment. Congress and TMC have often been rivals in Bengal, and Venugopal himself had earlier dismissed merger rumours as “baseless.” The latest statements treat Banerjee’s camp as the parent organisation and the rebels as defectors aided by the poll body.
The dispute itself dates to June, when rebel legislators submitted a rival list of office-bearers and claimed organisational control. Banerjee’s side filed its own list. Hearings followed. With two assembly vacancies now due, the Commission chose an interim freeze rather than a quick award of the original name and symbol to one side.
For the bypolls, voters will therefore see two TMC groups under new labels and unreserved symbols. The Commission has left a final determination of which faction is the “real” party for later, after examining legislative and organisational strength - the classic Sadiq Ali tests.
Congress leaders framed Thursday’s order as part of a sequence that began with splits in Maharashtra and continued whenever an opposition party fractured. Banerjee’s camp had opposed any freeze; the rebels had pressed for an early ruling so they could contest on the familiar brand. The EC gave neither what it wanted.
Whether the Congress intervention changes the legal course is unclear. What it does signal is that the national opposition now treats the TMC identity fight as another front against the Election Commission, not merely a Bengal family quarrel. Both factions must file their name-and-symbol choices by Friday morning. The bypolls are less than three weeks away.
