The TMC symbol freeze, ordered by the Election Commission of India on the night of Thursday, September 17, 2026, bars both warring factions of the Trinamool Congress from using the party’s name and its twin-flower symbol. A day later, the commission gave each camp a temporary identity so candidates can contest the October 6 bypolls. Mamata Banerjee’s faction will be “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” with a football player symbol. The rebel camp, led politically by Ritabrata Banerjee, will be “Democratic Trinamool Congress” with an envelope. The order is interim and does not decide which side owns the party.
What the Election Commission actually ordered
After hearing both sides on Thursday, the commission said the dispute needs a full determination under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. According to Business Today’s report, neither faction may use the name “All India Trinamool Congress” or the reserved “Flowers and Grass” symbol in the current bypolls.
Each camp was told to submit three preferred names and three symbols from the commission’s list of free symbols by 11 am on Friday. They were allowed to keep a reference to the parent party in their names. On Friday the commission announced its picks. The commission has not ruled on who is entitled to the original name and symbol. The TMC symbol freeze stays in place until that final decision.
How the TMC split reached the Election Commission
The trouble began after the party lost the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election, ending 15 years in power. A group of MLAs turned on the leadership, with Ritabrata Banerjee, now Leader of the Opposition, as their political face. The rebels first objected to Abhishek Banerjee’s role as general secretary while saying Mamata remained their leader.
That changed in late June. On June 22, the rebel camp declared senior MLA Arup Roy the party’s chairperson, suspended Abhishek Banerjee and set up a parallel 30-member national working committee. They then went to the Election Commission and argued that they are the real Trinamool. Reports at the time said they claimed the backing of about 65 MLAs. Mamata’s side rejects the claim and says she still heads the party. That rival claim to the party’s identity is what turned a party split into a TMC symbol freeze case.
Reports name two rebel leaders because both roles are real. Arup Roy is the chairperson the rebel organisation says it installed, while Ritabrata Banerjee is its best-known political leader.
Why a TMC symbol freeze is the usual step before bypolls
A party symbol is how many voters recognise a candidate on the voting machine, so a fight over it cannot wait until polling day. Under Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order, the commission decides which rival group is the recognised party. When an election is near and a full hearing cannot finish in time, it freezes the name and symbol and issues temporary ones.
The commission took the same approach for the Shiv Sena in October 2022, barring the Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde camps from the “bow and arrow” for the Andheri East bypoll. It did the same for the Lok Janshakti Party in 2021 and the AIADMK in 2017. The Delhi High Court dismissed Uddhav Thackeray’s petition against the Shiv Sena freeze that November, while asking the commission to decide the main dispute quickly. In that case the commission’s final ruling later went to the Shinde faction. Each dispute turns on its own facts, so that outcome does not predict how this TMC symbol freeze will end.
The October 6 bypolls at stake
The bypolls are for the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly seats in West Bengal and the Nagaon parliamentary seat in Assam. Counting for the two Bengal seats is on October 9. Mamata Banerjee questioned the timing of the order, saying the process was already underway, nominations were complete and candidates had already submitted their symbols.
In Nandigram, her faction has decided to back the Congress after its own candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew her nomination following a meeting with Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, according to the Economic Times. The Congress had earlier turned down a reported proposal to leave the seat to the TMC, which the TMC denied making. Mamata said her side would also support the Congress in Assam. For voters in the two Bengal seats, the TMC symbol freeze means the twin flowers will not appear on the machine.
Reactions to the TMC symbol freeze: who is saying what
Mamata Banerjee called the order a “black day” for democracy and said she would challenge it politically and legally. She said her faction submitted alternative names only because the polls cannot be paused. She also said her side filed documents from party elections held from the grassroots to the national level, and that the rival camp held no comparable exercise.
Ritabrata Banerjee welcomed the order. He said a political party is not a private company and that there can be no heir to one, a reference to the dispute over Abhishek Banerjee’s role.
Rahul Gandhi backed Mamata and called the episode “party chori,” after what he described as “vote chori” and “government chori.” He listed the Shiv Sena and NCP as earlier examples of what he called a pattern of the BJP and the commission splitting parties. Mamata said Gandhi and AAP’s Arvind Kejriwal had both reached out to her.
The BJP rejected the charge. Spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi told Gandhi to look at the Congress’s own record of toppling governments. Some Bengal BJP leaders said the outcome was expected. The collusion claims are political allegations. The commission has not said it acted at anyone’s behest.
What decides the fight from here
The commission still has to decide the main dispute under Paragraph 15, and Mamata says she will go to court. The real question is which yardstick the commission applies: how many elected legislators back each camp, or which side has the stronger organisation. The rebels can point to their MLAs. Mamata is relying on her organisational election records.
The October 6 bypolls will be the first time voters see the two new names and symbols on a ballot. They will not settle who owns the party. Until the commission gives its final ruling, the TMC symbol freeze keeps the original name and twin flowers out of both camps’ hands.
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