The Election Commission on Thursday barred both rival factions of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) from using the party's name and flower and grass election symbols in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly by-elections. The Commission has directed both the factions to submit three options for the name of the new party and three options from the list of available free election symbols by 11 am on September 18.
This decision has further intensified the internal rebellion against Mamata Banerjee's leadership that started in June and has been going on for several months. The Election Commission has issued an interim order freezing the party name All India Trinamool Congress and the election symbol reserved for the party. The Mamata Banerjee-led faction and the Ritabrata Banerjee-led opposition faction—both groups—will not be able to use the TMC name or the party's traditional election symbol until further orders.
Both the groups will be given different party names and different election symbols for the upcoming by-elections. The Election Commission has also made it clear that if both the groups wish, they can keep a reference to their parent party, i.e. 'All India Trinamool Congress' in the name of their proposed party. Both groups will be allowed to reference 'All India Trinamool Congress' in their proposed name. This controversy started with the internal rebellion after Trinamool's defeat in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
In June, Ritabrata Banerjee emerged as the main face of the rebellion. He claimed that he has the support of about 60 out of 80 MLAs. The rebel MLA demanded changes in the way the party functions, while keeping Mamata Banerjee as the overall leader of the party and protesting against the role and influence of Abhishek Banerjee. Later, Ritabrata Group claimed that Mamata Banerjee has been removed from the post of TMC President and Arup Roy has been made the President. Mamata's supporters rejected this decision and continued to consider her as the party chief.
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