Tmc Split: EC Gives Rival Factions New Names And Symbols Ahead Of By Polls
Corresspondent - Ajay Chowdhury/ 18th September 2026
Kolkata, West Bengal : The Election Commission on Friday gave two rival Trinamool Congress factions new names and election symbols ahead of the October 6 Assembly bypolls in West Bengal.
The faction led by Mamata Banerjee will now be called ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’. It has been given the ‘Football Player’ symbol. The group led by Arup Roy got the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘Envelope’ symbol, according to an Election Commission order.
The order came a night after the poll panel barred both sides from using the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) name and its reserved ‘Jora Ghash Phool’ (two flowers with grass) symbol for the coming bypolls. Both factions were asked to send in their preferred names and symbols by Friday morning.
The EC said the new names may keep a link with the AITC. But the symbols had to be picked from the list of free or available symbols kept aside for Independents and registered unrecognised political parties.
The panel said there was not enough time to finish the full proceedings under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. But it noted the urgency of giving the factions names and symbols for the by-elections.
The interim arrangement will apply only to the upcoming bypolls. It will stay in force until the dispute over the party’s name and symbol is finally decided under Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order.
The decision comes amid an internal split in the TMC after its defeat in the May Assembly polls. The dispute later spread to the party’s parliamentary ranks.
In June, 58 rebel MLAs elected expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. They chose him over the Mamata camp’s nominee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay. The move received recognition from the Speaker. It marked the first split in the party’s 28-year history.
Five days later, the rebellion reached Parliament. Twenty Lok Sabha MPs, led by Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar, joined the little-known NCPI. They wrote to Speaker Om Birla backing the BJP-led NDA as a “separate bloc”.
