The Election Commission’s Thursday order froze the All India Trinamool Congress name and its iconic Jora Phool symbol, preventing both Mamata Banerjee’s and Ritabrata Banerjee’s splinter groups from using them in the upcoming Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls.
The split erupted earlier this year when Ritabrata Banerjee challenged the legitimacy of Mamata’s party leadership, claiming the National Working Committee’s mandate had lapsed in February 2025—a claim the party’s core rejects as anachronistic.
Under the 14‑page interim order, each faction must submit its top three name and symbol choices by 11 a.m. on September 18; the Commission will then select one option for each group, allowing them to field candidates under new banners while retaining a visual link to the parent party.
The bypolls, slated for October 6, will therefore feature two distinct Trinamool‑affiliated parties, each with a fresh identity, a move that could split the anti‑BJP vote and alter the electoral calculus in these two West Bengal constituencies.
Mamata Banerjee’s camp has pledged to contest under the new name 'Trinamool Congress (M)', while Ritabrata Banerjee’s faction will operate as 'Trinamool Congress (R)'; local voters in Nandigram have expressed confusion, with one resident saying, 'I never knew there were two Trinamool groups.'