Supreme Court gives Election Commission 3 months to resolve TMC name, party symbol issue

Senior Advocate D S Naidu, appearing for the poll panel, said, “To some extent, they may help, though not to the fullest extent. I will tell you the practical problem we have faced. Rival parties, party cadres, members and everybody vouch for whichever group they support and then file affidavits. They come in lakhs. Whatever time the court fixes, let it run from the date the process of filing affidavits is completed.”

Appearing for the Trinamool faction led by Mamata Banerjee, party leader and Senior Advocate Kalyan Banerjee said their camp has responded to the poll panel’s notice, but the rival faction is yet to do so.

The bench then said, “We grant four weeks to the contesting respondents and the petitioner to place on record additional documents, affidavits and counter-affidavits, etc. Let pleadings be completed in all respects within four weeks. The Election Commission of India shall take three months thereafter to decide the symbol issue.”

The poll panel’s counsel said it would need at least six months to decide the issue. Justice Bagchi, however, said, “Three months is good enough.” When the poll body’s counsel replied that it would be “very difficult”, the bench said, “If some extreme exigency arises, come before us.”

The TMC, which lost power in Bengal after the Assembly poll drubbing this year, is caught in a factional feud in the Assembly and Parliament. While the rebel MPs have joined the Nationalist Citizen Party of India and aligned with NDA, the rebel faction comprising MLAs is led by Arup Roy and calls itself Democratic Trinamool Congress. The Banerjee-led faction is called the Mamata All-India Trinamool Congress.