Trinamool Symbol Dispute: Supreme Court Gives Factions 20 Days

The Supreme Court on Monday, 26 October, gave the two rival Trinamool Congress camps 20 more days in all to complete their filings before the Election Commission in the fight over the party’s name and symbol. A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana allowed the faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee 10 days to file its response, and the camp led by Mamata Banerjee a further 10 days to reply, IANS reported. The Mamata camp had opposed the extension.

The Election Commission’s Clock Has Not Started

The delay matters because the Election Commission’s own timetable depends on it. In an earlier order, the court had asked the Commission to decide the dispute within three months of the pleadings closing. With the filings now running in sequence, that three-month period begins only after both sides are done. The court said it had expressed no opinion on the merits, and both sides can raise their contentions, including objections to documents, before the Commission.

An Interim Freeze in September

On 17 September the Election Commission passed an interim order under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. It barred both camps from using the Trinamool name and its “Flowers and Grass” symbol while the dispute is pending, saying it did not have time to finish proceedings before the bye-elections held on 6 October in Rejinagar and Nandigram in West Bengal and Nagaon in Assam. The Mamata camp was given the name “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” and a “football player” symbol for those polls; the rival camp got “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and an “envelope”.

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Mamata Banerjee then moved the Supreme Court against the freeze. Both camps claim control of the party’s organisation, and IANS reported that the dispute also extends to Trinamool’s Lok Sabha members, where the Mamata camp invokes the anti-defection law and the rival camp claims the support of more than two-thirds of the party’s MPs. Earlier IPB coverage of the Commission’s work on voter rolls is in our SIR explainer; more reports are in Daily Updates.

Replies Due in Early and Mid-November

Counting from Monday’s order, the Ritabrata camp’s reply falls due in the first week of November and the Mamata camp’s response about 10 days after that. The Commission’s final decision on which group holds the Trinamool name and symbol will follow only after that, and no date for it has been set.

Source: Based on reporting by IANS (via Punjab Kesari), Indian Opinion and ThePrint.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.