New Delhi: Mamata Banerjee has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Election Commission’s decision to freeze the Trinamool Congress party’s name and its “two flowers on grass” symbol.
The Mamata Banerjee-led faction has filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the Election Commission’s order barring both the Mamata Banerjee-led faction and the Arup Roy-led faction from using the name “All India Trinamool Congress” and the party’s symbol, and directing both sides to choose separate names and symbols in the upcoming by-election.
In her petition, Mamata Banerjee stated that while considering the claims of both sides regarding the party’s name and symbol, the Election Commission did not take into account the organizational structure of the Trinamool Congress party. The petition also says that the Election Commission placed excessive reliance on the documents submitted by the dissident MPs and MLAs, and that disqualification petitions against many of those legislators are still pending before the Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
The Mamata-led faction has also filed another petition in the Supreme Court. It states that the Speaker of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly is delaying a decision on the disqualification petitions against 10 dissident MLAs. The petition also objects to the recognition of Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
What is the background? - By-elections will be held in West Bengal on Oct. 6 for the Nandigram and Rejinagar assembly constituencies. In this election, both the team led by Mamata Banerjee and the team led by Arup Roy claimed the Trinamool Congress party’s name and the right to the twin flowers symbol on the party’s field.
In this regard, with both teams having petitioned the Election Commission, the Election Commission has allowed the two teams to contest the by-election with separate names and separate symbols.
Accordingly, the faction led by Mamata Banerjee has been allotted the name “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” and the symbol “football player.” The faction led by Arup Roy has been allotted the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and the symbol “postal envelope.”
In the Legislative Assembly election held in West Bengal last May, Suvendu Adhikari, who belongs to the BJP, contested in two constituencies and won. Later, he resigned from the MLA post for the Nandigram constituency.
Following this, the by-election for the Nandigram constituency will be held on Oct. 6. In the Nandigram by-election, Sanchita Pradhan, on behalf of the Mamata camp, was announced as the candidate last Sunday. She suddenly announced that she was withdrawing from the election.
Following this, Mamata Banerjee has announced that she will support the Congress candidate. Within hours of Mamata Banerjee expressing support for the Congress party, the party’s candidate Milan Pradhan was arrested by the police yesterday in connection with an old murder case. A police officer said he would be produced in court today.
