Ritabrata Banerjee-led TMC rebels to meet EC, stake claim on party symbol and funds

The faction, led by expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, had sought an audience with the Commission earlier.

NEW DELHI: The power struggle within the Trinamool Congress is set to reach the Election Commission of India on Thursday, with the party’s “rebel but majority” faction set to appear before the poll panel’s full bench to stake its claim over the party’s election symbol and funds.The faction, led by expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee, had sought an audience with the Commission earlier. According to Ritabrata, the ECI has now scheduled a hearing in New Delhi where the rebel legislators will present their case. A delegation of 10 MLAs from the camp is leaving for the national capital on Wednesday evening for the meeting.The dispute escalated after the rebel camp announced its own National Working Committee on June 22. The newly constituted body has 30 members and is supported by a 10-member sub-committee. In a significant move, the group removed Mamata Banerjee as the party’s national chairperson and appointed senior MLA Arup Roy in her place.The rival camp has since submitted resolutions and other legal documents to the Election Commission in support of its claim, arguing that it now represents the majority within the Trinamool Congress legislative party.The numbers claimed by the two camps form the crux of the battle. The Trinamool Congress has 80 MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly. The rebel faction claims the backing of 60 legislators, while the remaining 20 continue with the “original and minority” faction led by Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. The fight is centred on who has the legal right to use the Trinamool Congress name and election symbol. Under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, a recognised regional party must secure at least six per cent of the valid votes polled and have a minimum of two MLAs to retain its symbol.

Relying on this provision, the rebel camp argues that it comfortably meets the Commission’s requirements. It says that even if each of its 60 MLAs is assumed to have secured an average of 80,000 votes, the faction’s combined vote strength would be around 48 lakh. With nearly 6.30 crore votes cast in the previous Assembly election, the six per cent benchmark works out to about 37.80 lakh votes, placing the rebel faction well above the threshold.The group has also claimed that the “original but minority” faction, with only 20 MLAs, cannot reach the required vote strength. On that basis, it maintains that its claim over the party’s symbol and other organisational assets is stronger under the Election Commission’s rules.The Commission is expected to hear the submissions of the rebel legislators before deciding the next course of action in the dispute, which has become one of the biggest organisational challenges faced by the TMC in recent years.