The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to bring to finality, within four months, the dispute between rival factions of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) concerning the party’s name and its reserved ‘Flowers & Grass’ election symbol.
A Bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana prescribed a four-week period for the rival claimants to complete their pleadings by way of affidavits and counter-affidavits. The Election Commission is thereafter required to conclude the adjudicatory process within three months under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
The directions were issued in a writ petition instituted by AITC founder Mamata Banerjee assailing the ECI’s September 17 interim order, whereby the Commission had frozen the use of the party’s original name and symbol pending determination of competing claims to the political identity and organisational control of the party.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Banerjee, had clarified that the petitioner was not seeking any intervention in the ongoing by-elections, but was pressing for an expeditious adjudication of the substantive dispute. The Court’s approach was accordingly directed towards securing an early final determination without disturbing the electoral process already underway.
Senior Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu, appearing for the ECI, submitted that proceedings of this nature necessarily involve consideration of voluminous material, including affidavits from a large body of party functionaries and workers, and therefore require adequate time. During the hearing, Justice Bagchi also indicated that technological tools, including artificial intelligence, could potentially be deployed to facilitate the handling of the extensive material placed before the Commission.
The controversy stems from rival claims over the AITC’s established political identity. On September 17, the ECI, faced with competing claims to the party’s name and election symbol in the run-up to the October 6 by-elections, put in place an interim arrangement restraining both factions from using the original AITC name and the ‘Flowers & Grass’ symbol until the dispute is finally determined under Paragraph 15.
As part of that interim arrangement, the Commission allotted the name “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” and the ‘Football Player’ symbol to the faction led by Mamata Banerjee, while the rival group was assigned the name “Democratic Trinamool Congress” and the ‘Envelope’ symbol. The arrangement was made applicable to the ensuing by-elections, including contests at Nandigram and Rejinagar.
The Supreme Court’s latest directions are confined to ensuring a time-bound adjudication of the substantive dispute over entitlement to the AITC name and the ‘Flowers & Grass’ symbol under Paragraph 15. The interim electoral arrangement, therefore, remains distinct from the final de
The post Supreme Court grants Election Commission of India four months to adjudicate TMC name and symbol dispute appeared first on India Legal.