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The Election Commission of India (ECI), in an interim order on Thursday, barred both rival factions led by Arup Roy and Mamata Banerjee from using the name All India Trinamool Congress and the party's reserved Flowers & Grass election symbol.
The order comes amid a dispute between the two groups over the organisational control and identity of the Trinamool Congress. Both factions had staked claims to the party name and election symbol before the poll panel. In an official order, the Election Commission directed that neither of the two groups led by Roy and Banerjee shall be permitted to use the name of the party All India Trinamool Congress simpliciter. It also ordered that neither group shall be permitted to use the Flowers & Grass symbol reserved for the All India Trinamool Congress. According to the order, both groups will be known by such names as they may choose for their respective groups, including, if they so desire, linkage with their parent party All India Trinamool Congress. The poll panel further directed that both groups shall be allotted different symbols of their choice from the list of free symbols notified by the Election Commission for the purposes of the current by-elections. The order has been issued ahead of the upcoming West Bengal Assembly bypolls, including Nandigram and Rejinagar, amid the ongoing dispute between the two factions. The Election Commission had heard representatives of the rival factions as both sides sought recognition as the legitimate Trinamool Congress and claimed the party's organisational structure and election symbol. The latest order means the two groups will contest the current bypolls under separate names and symbols, while the Election Commission continues to examine the competing claims over the party's organisational control. The Commission's direction is an interim arrangement for the current electoral process and does not, by itself, constitute a final determination on the competing organisational claims. (ANI)
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