Supreme Court Seeks Timeline From Election Commission On TMC Name, Symbol Dispute

The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission to quickly decide which of the two rival All India Trinamool Congress factions will get the party’s name and symbol. Hearing a plea by Mamata Banerjee, the court also asked the poll panel to tell it by Monday when it expected to take a final call on the dispute.

The bench drew on the earlier Shiv Sena split and said the dispute between the two AITC groups must be resolved quickly. Its order came days after the Election Commission gave Mamata Banerjee’s faction the temporary name “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” and the “football player” symbol.

The other faction received the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and the “envelope” symbol. Earlier, the Commission had put the All India Trinamool Congress name and its “flowers and grass” symbol on hold after accepting that the party was split. Until the dispute ends, neither group can use the original name or symbol.

Bypolls And Interim Names

The temporary arrangement will apply to the upcoming bypolls. Candidates from the two camps will contest under the separate names and symbols allotted by the Commission.

The poll panel has already heard competing claims over control of the party, its name and its election symbol. Both sides have appeared before the Commission and filed documents during the proceedings.

The dispute reached the Commission after the rival groups staked claim to control of the TMC. The panel then sought submissions on organisational control, authorised office-bearers, party assets, the party name and its election symbol.

Competing Faction Claims

Two camps are in play. One is led by Mamata Banerjee, while the rebel side is led by Ritabrata Banerjee.

The rebel legislators also separately elected Howrah Central MLA Arup Roy as faction chairperson. In filings before the Commission, Mamata Banerjee’s camp submitted a revised national-working-committee list dated June 20, 2026, retaining Banerjee as chairperson and Abhishek Banerjee as national general secretary.

The rebel submission, meanwhile, expanded the committee from 10 to 30 members and named its own vice-chairpersons, general secretaries and treasurer. Both camps also filed competing Form-B nomination papers claiming the TMC name for the bypolls.

Records And Legal Basis

The rebel side has also challenged the records cited by Mamata Banerjee’s camp. It told the Commission that elections for the chairperson and the national working committee had been held every five years—in 2006, 2011, 2017 and 2022.

That side also submitted material alleging anomalies in the Mamata camp’s record of a June 5 working-committee meeting. The Commission then sought additional papers from that faction.

The Commission is examining the dispute under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, using the organisational and legislative-wing strength test linked to Sadiq Ali. The Supreme Court’s reference to Shiv Sena relates to the earlier case in which the Commission recognised the Eknath Shinde group as the real Shiv Sena and gave it the bow-and-arrow symbol. The TMC case, by contrast, remains at the interim stage and no faction has yet received the original party name or symbol.