The Election Commission of India has placed the name and reserved election symbol of the All India Trinamool Congress on an interim freeze, after concluding that two rival camps are each claiming to be the party. Neither group may use “All India Trinamool Congress” on its own, or the party’s “Flowers & Grass” symbol, until the Commission finishes a full inquiry under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
The three-member Commission - Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu - signed the order in New Delhi on Thursday. It is meant to cover the current round of bye-elections and will last until a final decision on which faction, if either, is the recognised party.
The freeze is not a verdict on who “owns” the Trinamool Congress. It is a stopgap. The Commission said there was not enough time to complete the full Para 15 process before polling, but that the use of the party name and symbol in the ongoing by-elections could not wait.
Why the Commission acted now
Bye-elections are scheduled for October 6, with counting on October 9. The seats include Nandigram and Rejinagar in the West Bengal Assembly and the Nagaon Lok Sabha constituency in Assam. Returning officers had already received rival nomination papers, each claiming to be the official All India Trinamool Congress candidate and each attaching a Form-B issued by a different authorising signatory.
In 210-Nandigram, the Commission recorded a nomination from Ehteshmul Haque with Form-B signed by Arup Roy, and another from Sanchita Pradhan (Dey) with Form-B signed by Mamata Banerjee. In 9-Nagaon, Abdul Salam filed as an All India Trinamool Congress candidate with authorisation from Banerjee. Those conflicting papers made a temporary rule necessary before scrutiny and the ballot paper stage.
What the interim order says
After reviewing the record, the Commission stated:
“On due consideration of the totality of information available on record with the Commission… the Commission is of the opinion that there are two rival groups in All India Trinamool Congress, one led by Ms. Mamata Banerjee and the other led by Shri Arup Roy, and each group is now claiming to be the party and therefore the matter requires a substantive determination… under Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation & Allotment) Order 1968.”
To put both sides “on even keel” and to protect their rights pending that determination, the Commission ordered:
1: Neither group may use the name “All India Trinamool Congress” ‘simpliciter’
2: Neither group may use the reserved symbol “Flowers & Grass”.
3: Each group may choose a name of its own, including one that still refers to the parent party if it wishes.
4: Each group will be given a different symbol from the Commission’s list of free symbols for these bye-elections.
Both camps have until 11:00 AM on Friday, 18 September 2026 to send three preferred group names and three preferred free symbols, ranked in order. The Commission will pick from those lists.
How the dispute reached ECI
The All India Trinamool Congress was founded by Mamata Banerjee in 1998. After the party lost the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election to the BJP, a large group of legislators broke with her organisational control. In June, that bloc held a session, removed Banerjee as chairperson, and elected Howrah Central MLA Arup Roy in her place. Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee has been the public face of that camp. Both sides then filed competing National Working Committee lists with the Election Commission and claimed the registered name, funds, and symbol.
The Commission heard the two sides again on Thursday. The Banerjee camp had argued there was “no dispute”; the Roy camp pressed for an early ruling because nominations for the October 6 polls had already closed.
The approach follows earlier splits. When the Shiv Sena divided in 2022 and the Nationalist Congress Party in 2023, the Commission likewise froze the recognised name and reserved symbol on an interim basis and allotted free symbols so that neither faction would walk into a by-election with an uncontested claim to the original brand.
The freeze applies only until the Commission decides the Para 15 case. That inquiry will look at organisational and legislative support the so-called two-wing test used since ‘Sadiq Ali v. Election Commission’. The winning faction, if one is recognised, would inherit the official name and the Flowers & Grass symbol. The other would have to contest as a new or differently named group.
For now, voters in Nandigram, Rejinagar and Nagaon will not see the familiar “Jora Phool” against either Trinamool slate. Both groups must campaign under temporary names and symbols chosen from Friday morning’s submissions. The order does not bar either camp from contesting. It only strips both of the exclusive use of the registered identity until the Commission finishes the substantive case.
