SC asks EC to set timeline for resolving name, symbol dispute between TMC factions

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Election Commission to decide at the earliest which of the two rival factions of the All India Trinamool Congress will get the party's name and symbol.Hearing a plea filed by Mamata Banerjee, the top court asked the poll panel to inform it by Monday when it expected to take a final decision on the dispute.The Supreme Court also referred to the Shiv Sena factional dispute and said the row between the two AITC factions should be decided expeditiously.The development comes days after the Election Commission temporarily allotted Mamata Banerjee's faction the name "Mamata All India Trinamool Congress" and the "football player" symbol.The rival faction was allotted the name "Democratic Trinamool Congress" and the "envelope" symbol.Earlier, in an interim order, the poll panel froze the All India Trinamool Congress name and its "flowers and grass" symbol after recognising a factional dispute within the party. Neither faction can use the original name or symbol until the dispute is finally settled. The temporary arrangement will apply to the upcoming bypolls, with candidates of the two factions contesting under the separate names and symbols allotted by the Commission. The Election Commission has been hearing competing claims over control of the party, its name and election symbol. Both sides have submitted documents and appeared before the Commission during the proceedings.The dispute reached the poll panel after rival groups staked claims to control the TMC. The commission subsequently sought submissions on issues including organisational control, authorised office-bearers, party assets, the party name and its election symbol. Rohitashwa Ranjan is a digital journalist with The Times of India, where he decodes Indian politics as a carefully staged production with scripts, subtext and everything behind. His stories track elections, party dynamics and the things that often are buried beneath the headlines. When not parsing vote shares or alliances, he is usually reading between the lines, where the real story tends to reside.