New Delhi, Sept. 19 -- Mamata Banerjee has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission's interim freeze on the Trinamool Congress's name and its traditional flowers-and-grass symbol, while the poll panel has assigned new symbols to Naushad Siddiqui's Indian Secular Front (ISF) and Humayun Kabir's Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) ahead of the October 6 bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar. The Commission on Friday allotted separate names and symbols to the two rival factions claiming the Trinamool identity. The faction led by Banerjee was given the name 'Mamata All India Trinamool Congress' and the football player symbol.
The rival faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee was allotted 'Democratic Trinamool Congress' and the envelope symbol. The interim arrangement follows the Commission's decision to bar both groups from using the 'All India Trinamool Congress' name and the reserved flowers-and-grass symbol until the dispute is substantively decided under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
Banerjee has challenged the order before the Supreme Court, making the ECI and Ritabrata Banerjee respondents. Meanwhile, for the Rejinagar bypoll, the Commission has now allotted ISF the cupboard symbol. Naushad has written to the poll panel seeking restoration of the envelope symbol and said he would approach the Calcutta High Court. The allocation of the envelope symbol to the Ritabrata faction of Trinamool Congress had prompted Naushad to protest.
The ISF has used the symbol since its electoral debut in 2021, when the party contested the Bhangar seat and Naushad emerged as its sole MLA as part of the Sanjukta Morcha. He retained Bhangar in the 2026 Assembly election. The party had originally used the envelope after borrowing it from Bihar's Rashtriya Secular Majlis Party, as it had not been allotted a symbol before the 2021 election. Despite subsequently applying for a permanent symbol, ISF continued to contest elections with the envelope. Kabir's AJUP has similarly lost the whistle symbol it used in the 2026 Assembly election and has been allotted a table for the Rejinagar contest. Kabir had won both Rejinagar and Nowda in the Assembly election but vacated Rejinagar, where his son Gholam Nabi Azad is now contesting.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.