New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to urgently list a petition filed by former West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the Election Commission of India’s decision to freeze the All India Trinamool Congress name and its reserved “Flowers and Grass” (Jora Ghash Phul) symbol amid a factional dispute in the party.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing with senior advocate Kalyan Banerjee, mentioned the matter before a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana. Sibal sought an early hearing, arguing that the Commission had frozen the party’s identity after the bypoll notification had already been issued.
“They issue a notification and in the middle of notification, they freeze the symbol. What is going on? We want urgent listing,” Sibal submitted. The Chief Justice said both sides would have submissions to make and that the court would try to list the matter, with one report indicating an attempt to take it up this week.
Banerjee moved the court on September 18, hours after the Commission allotted separate names and symbols to the two rival camps for the October 6 Assembly by-elections in Nandigram and Rejinagar. The petition names the Election Commission and Ritabrata Banerjee, Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, as respondents.
On September 17, the ECI issued an interim order barring both factions from using the recognised party name and reserved symbol pending a substantive decision under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. The Commission said two groups were claiming to be the real AITC and there was insufficient time to complete proceedings before the bypolls. The next day it allotted “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” and the “Football Player” symbol to Banerjee’s faction, and “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and the “Envelope” symbol to the rival group. The arrangement was described as interim and not a final adjudication of the original name and symbol.
The petition contends that the Commission did not comprehensively examine the party’s organisational structure and relied on statements of rebel legislators facing disqualification under the Tenth Schedule. Banerjee’s camp has also filed a separate plea over delay in those disqualification proceedings before the Assembly Speaker. Banerjee has called the freeze a “black day” in democratic history and likened the loss of the party’s identity to a mother losing a child, vowing to fight the interim arrangement politically, democratically and legally.
The bypolls are scheduled for October 6, with counting on October 9. The court is yet to fix a date for hearing.