Senior Congress leader and party's General Secretary KC Venugopal has hit out at the Centre and Election Commission of India (ECI), saying that the freezing
of the All India Trinamool Congress' (AITC) symbol and party name was a late-night birthday gift from Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar for Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Taking to X, formerly Twitter, Venugopal said, "Freezing the AITC name and symbol - after a blatantly unconstitutional hijack by the BJP - is CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s late-night birthday gift to Modi ji. Those who fought against the BJP, under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, are now being given the red carpet to rebel against her and commit the unconstitutional sin of defection with the ECI’s help." "The ECI has once again proven that it is nothing more than a puppet in the hands of the BJP - a tool to destroy democracy bit by bit. They did it in the case of Shiv Sena, NCP, and now AITC - whoever opposes the BJP is dealt a fatal blow and their entire electoral existence is snatched away from them," the senior Congress leader said. Venugopal added that they condemn this move and demand that the ECI immediately restore the two-leaves symbol to Mamata Banerjee.
EC Freezes TMC Symbol, Name
The Election Commission has directed rival factions of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) not to use the party name and "Flowers and Grass symbol" during the upcoming West Bengal bypolls, and asked them to submit their preferred names and symbols by Friday morning.
In its interim order issued on Thursday night, the Commission, after hearing leaders of the two factions led by Mamata Banerjee and Arup Roy, said the matter requires substantive determination by the poll body under provisions of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order 1968.
"On due consideration of the totality of information available on record... 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," the interim order said.
"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," it said.
Accordingly, the commission said, to place both the rival groups on an even keel and to protect their rights and interests and going by the past precedent, the Commission gave its interim order to cover the purpose of the current by-elections and to continue till the final determination of the dispute in the matter.
"Neither of the two groups led by Arup Roy (Petitioner) and the other led by Mamata Banerjee (Respondent) shall be permitted to use the name of the party 'All India Trinamool Congress'
"Neither of the two groups shall also be permitted to use the symbol 'Flowers and Grass', reserved for 'All India Trinamool Congress'," the Commission said.
The poll body said both the groups would be known by names of their choice and, if they desired, could retain a linkage with their parent party, the AITC. Both groups would also be allotted different symbols chosen from the list of free symbols notified by the EC for the upcoming by-elections.
"Accordingly, both the groups are hereby directed to furnish, latest by 11:00 AM on 18.09.2026: The names of their groups by which they may be recognised by the commission and, to this end, give three options in order of preference, any one of which may be approved by the commission and the symbols which may be allotted to the candidates set up, if any, by the respective groups," the EC said.
"They may indicate the names of three free symbols, in the order of their preference, any one of which may be allotted to their candidates by the commission," it said.
The order noted that the Returning Officers for both constituencies had already received nominations from candidates claiming to be AITC nominees, with competing Form-Bs authorised by Roy and Banerjee respectively.
With inputs from PTI
