Kolkata, Sep 9 (PTI) The dispute over the TMC’s name and symbol is now spilling into the bypoll battle in Nandigram and Rejinagar, with the party’s rival factions preparing to field candidates even as their claims remain pending before the Election Commission.
The poll panel is yet to decide which faction is entitled to the TMC’s recognised name and its twin-flower-on-grass symbol.
But with nominations for the October 6 bypolls opening on Wednesday, both camps are moving ahead with their electoral plans, raising the prospect of an unusual contest in which rival groups could seek votes claiming the TMC identity.
The Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction said it will claim the TMC’s name and symbol while remaining prepared to contest as independents if the EC does not recognise its claim before nominations close.
“We will contest the bypolls. At the time of filing nominations, we will state that our candidates are from the Trinamool Congress and claim the twin-flower symbol. If the Election Commission does not allot the symbol to us by the deadline, our candidates will contest as independents,” Akhruzzaman, chief whip of the Ritabrata-led faction in the Assembly, said on Wednesday.
The rebel TMC faction has called a meeting of its office bearers to decide on the candidates for bypolls.
A leader of the Mamata Banerjee camp, Akhil Giri, said the party would soon announce its candidates.
The faction will field candidates in both constituencies and has sought names from its district units. The nominees are expected to be local faces and are likely to be announced on September 15.
The immediate electoral contest, however, is also shaping up as a test of the rival factions’ competing claims to the TMC’s political and organisational identity.
The Mamata Banerjee-led camp maintains that the Election Commission’s records continue to recognise Banerjee as the party’s chairperson. The rival faction, meanwhile, has been seeking recognition of its claim to the party name, symbol and organisational resources.
The dispute has acquired a sharper electoral edge with the bypoll schedule. Voting in Nandigram and Rejinagar will be held on October 6 and counting will take place three days later. The last date for filing nominations is September 16, followed by scrutiny on the next day and withdrawal of candidature on September 19.
For the TMC, however, Nandigram carries a political weight far beyond the arithmetic of a single Assembly seat.
The constituency was at the heart of the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement that helped propel the TMC towards power and eventually ended the Left Front’s 34-year rule in West Bengal.
In 2021, Nandigram acquired another political meaning when Banerjee herself contested the seat against her former lieutenant Suvendu Adhikari and was defeated by a narrow margin, turning the constituency into one of the most potent symbols of the BJP’s challenge to the TMC.
The seat fell vacant after Adhikari, who had won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur in the 2026 Assembly elections, chose to retain Bhabanipur and resigned from Nandigram.
The BJP will now seek to build on that 2021 verdict and reinforce the political association of Adhikari, now the chief minister, with the constituency.
The TMC, meanwhile, faces the more complicated task of fighting the BJP while an organisational dispute over its own identity remains unresolved.
That uncertainty has fuelled speculation over whether the Mamata camp will opt for a heavyweight challenger or rely on a local face to take on the BJP.
The choice could carry significance beyond candidate selection.
A strong nominee would signal an aggressive attempt to reclaim a constituency that remains closely tied to Banerjee’s political rivalry with Adhikari, while a lower-profile choice could invite questions about the party’s strategy in a seat where its leadership has a deeply personal electoral history.
The Ritabrata faction’s decision to contest despite the uncertainty over the symbol adds another complication.
“If both factions seek votes as the TMC, the Nandigram contest could become a battle not only for the seat but also over who can credibly claim the party’s political legacy. Should the Ritabrata camp be denied the recognised symbol, its decision to contest as an independent could produce yet another layer of electoral messaging, with the rival faction likely to project itself as the sole legitimate TMC in the fray,” a Kolkata-based political analyst said.
The organisational dispute took shape after the Assembly elections, when Ritabrata Banerjee and a section of legislators moved to establish a separate TMC faction. The disagreement subsequently widened to encompass the party name, election symbol and control over organisational funds and resources.
The matter reached the Election Commission in July, with both sides submitting their claims and supporting documents. A resolution expected in August did not materialise, leading to repeated appeals from the Mamata camp for an early decision.
The bypoll schedule has now effectively placed a deadline on the dispute.
For the Ritabrata camp, the two contests provide an opportunity to take its claim beyond the Election Commission and into an actual electoral arena.
For Banerjee’s faction, particularly in Nandigram, the party has to prevent the BJP from using the bypoll to reinforce its claim over a constituency that once represented the TMC’s rise and later became the site of Banerjee’s most high-profile electoral defeat.
Rejinagar, vacated by Aam Janata Unnayan Party founder Humayun Kabir, presents a different political equation. But Nandigram is likely to remain the centrepiece of the October 6 contest. PTI PNT NN
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