The order is interim, not final, but its immediate effect is dramatic: for the coming bypolls, neither the group led by the Chief Minister nor the rival group may contest as the Trinamool Congress or under its ‘Flowers and Grass’ symbol. The Election Commission has recognised that there are, for now, two rival claimants to the party, and has frozen the name and symbol for both to keep the contest even until it decides, under Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order, which group is the party. Both must now choose new names and free symbols.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has, by an interim order, barred both rival factions of the All India Trinamool Congress, one led by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the other by Arup Roy, from using the party’s name and its reserved “Flowers and Grass” election symbol in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly bypolls, pending a substantive determination of the dispute over control of the party.
The order, issued on the night of September 17, 2026 after the Commission heard leaders of both groups, directs that the dispute be adjudicated under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
What the Commission held
The Commission recorded that, on the material before it, there are two rival groups within the party, each claiming to be the All India Trinamool Congress, and that the competing claims require a substantive determination:
“…the commission is of the opinion that there are two rival groups in the All India Trinamool Congress, one led by Ms. Mamata Banerjee and the other led by Shri Arup Roy. Each group is now claiming to be the party, and therefore the matter requires a substantive determination by the Commission under Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation & Allotment) Order 1968.”
To place the two groups on an even footing and protect their respective interests, and following past precedent, the Commission passed an interim arrangement to hold the field for the current by-elections and to continue until the dispute is finally decided. Neither the group led by Arup Roy, described as the petitioner, nor the group led by Mamata Banerjee, described as the respondent, would be permitted to use the name “All India Trinamool Congress”, and neither would be permitted to use the reserved “Flowers and Grass” symbol.
What the factions must do now
The Commission directed that both groups may be known by such names as they choose for their respective groups, including, if they so desire, an indication of their linkage with the parent party, and that both be allotted such different symbols as they may choose from the Commission’s list of free symbols for the current by-elections. As reported, the two factions have been asked to submit their preferred names and free symbols, in order of preference, by the morning of September 18, after which the Commission will decide the allotment for each group.
The interim order affects the bypolls to the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly seats, scheduled, as reported, for October 6. Its practical consequence is that both groups will contest those seats under separate names and different symbols, rather than under the Trinamool banner.
The legal framework
Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order empowers the Election Commission, where it is satisfied that there are rival sections or groups of a recognised political party each claiming to be that party, to decide that one such group, or none of them, is that recognised political party, and its decision binds all the rival sections. It is the provision under which the Commission has historically resolved contests for a party’s name and symbol after a split.
The device of an interim freeze, barring both sides from the disputed name and symbol and requiring them to contest imminent elections under temporary arrangements while the Paragraph 15 dispute is decided, is one the Commission has used before. It followed the same course in 2017 when it froze the AIADMK’s “Two Leaves” symbol between rival factions ahead of a bypoll, and the question of freezing a symbol for both sides has most recently been in issue in the Shiv Sena dispute now before the Supreme Court. The stated rationale is the same in each case: to keep the electoral field level between rival claimants until the substantive question of who is the party is decided.
Why it matters
An interim freeze of this kind is a familiar mechanism, but its application to a party in government, whose founder is the sitting Chief Minister, makes it politically significant. The order does not decide which group is the real Trinamool Congress; it decides only that, because two groups are each claiming to be the party, neither may use the disputed name and symbol until the Commission resolves the claim. It is, in that sense, a holding measure, and both sides retain their competing claims intact for the Paragraph 15 adjudication that will follow.
The immediate stakes are electoral. A recognised party’s symbol carries real value at the ballot, and courts and the Commission have long accepted that a large section of the electorate identifies a party primarily through its symbol. Requiring both groups to contest the Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls under unfamiliar names and free symbols, rather than the established Trinamool identity, changes the terms of those contests, which is precisely why interim arrangements of this kind are consequential and closely fought.
What comes next is the substantive contest under Paragraph 15, where the Commission will apply the tests developed since Sadiq Ali, the party’s organisational structure, its constitution, and the majority within its legislative and organisational wings, to decide which group, if any, is the All India Trinamool Congress. That determination, and any challenge to it before the courts, will decide the ownership of the name and symbol for the future. For now, nothing final has been settled; the Commission has frozen the disputed identity for both sides and set the process in motion. This report is based on the Commission’s interim order and its reporting; the affected parties may be expected to respond, and the final outcome remains to be seen.
Matter: Interim order of the Election Commission of India in the dispute over the All India Trinamool Congress name and symbol, between the groups led by Arup Roy (petitioner) and Mamata Banerjee (respondent)
Order dated: September 17, 2026
Provision: Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968
Status: Interim order. Party name “All India Trinamool Congress” and “Flowers and Grass” symbol frozen for both groups for the bypolls; substantive determination under Paragraph 15 pending.