The Election Commission on Friday allotted the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and a ‘football player’ as its new symbol. On the other side, the Ritabrata Banerjee faction o…

The Election Commission on Friday allotted the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC faction the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and a ‘football player’ as its new symbol. On the other side, the Ritabrata Banerjee faction of TMC got the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and ‘envelope’ as symbol.The EC, in an interim order, had temporarily removed the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) name and its ‘flowers and grass’ symbol from the ballot for the October 6 bypolls in West Bengal.’Gyanesh Kumar’s late night birthday gift to Modi’: Congress backs Mamata, hits out at EC over TMC symbol freezeThe EC, on Thursday night, directed the two sides involved in the dispute over the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) not to use the party name and its “flowers and grass” symbol for the upcoming West Bengal bypolls, and asked them to submit their preferred names and symbols by Friday morning.The commission, however, said the proposed name could be similar to All India Trinamool Congress, and the symbol must be chosen from the list of free or available symbols notified for independents and registered unrecognised political parties. The bypolls to Rejinagar and Nandigram are scheduled for October 6.The order comes amid a rebellion in the TMC that dates back to the defeat in the Assembly polls in May. In June, 58 rebel MLAs chose expelled leader Ritabrata Banerjee as Leader of Opposition instead of the Mamata camp’s nominee, Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, and secured recognition from the Assembly Speaker, marking the party’s first split in its 28-year history.Soon, the revolt reached the Parliament, with 20 Lok Sabha MPs led by senior leader Kakoli Ghosh Dastidar joining the little-known NCPI and writing to Speaker Om Birla, backing the BJP-led NDA as a “separate bloc”, deepening the rupture in the party’s parliamentary ranks.

Source: Deccan Herald