Supreme Court Agrees to Urgently List Mamata Banerjee's Plea Challenging Election Commission's Decision on Trinamool Congress Name and Symbol

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to urgently list a plea filed by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the Election Commission’s interim decision to freeze the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) name and its ‘Flowers and Grass’ election symbol. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Banerjee, mentioned the matter before a Bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant and comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana. “They issue a notification and in the middle of notification, they freeze the symbol. What is going on? We want urgent listing,” Mr. Sibal said. The court indicated that the rival faction would also have an opportunity to make its submissions and agreed to list the matter urgently. The Election Commission had on September 18 barred both rival factions of the Trinamool Congress from using the party’s original name and its reserved symbol, pending a substantive determination of the dispute under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. The Commission subsequently allotted the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘Football Player’ symbol to the faction led by Banerjee. The rival faction led by Arup Roy was allotted the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘Envelope’ symbol for the October 6 Assembly bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar.