TMC Symbol Dispute: Supreme Court Directs ECI To Decide Dispute Within Three Months, Says Parties' Cooperation Is Extremely Important
The Court also clarified that no opinion was expressed on the merits of the case and that all contentions remained open to be raised by the parties before the ECI.
The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to decide the dispute regarding the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) name and symbol within three months, following a four-week period granted to the rival factions to complete their pleadings.
The Court was hearing a writ petition filed by Mamata Banerjee challenging the ECI's interim decision to freeze the party name and its reserved "Flowers & Grass" symbol.
Previously, the Court asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to apprise it of a realistic timeline within which it can arrive at a final adjudication regarding the dispute.
The Election Commission of India had issued an interim order freezing the name "All India Trinamool Congress" and its reserved "Flowers & Grass" symbol and barring both rival factions of the All India Trinamool Congress from using the party name and symbol for upcoming bye-elections.
The Bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana ordered, "We are inclined to rely upon the timeline within which the disputes at Serial Nos. 3 and 4 of that chart were finally decided in the past. We find in the instant case that the dispute is already pending where pursuant to a notice issued by the Election Commission, the petitioner has already filed their response, whereas the response from the opposite group is still awaited. In such circumstances, we grant four weeks' time to the contesting respondents as well as the petitioner to place on record their additional documents/affidavits/counter-affidavits, etc. In other words, the pleadings shall be completed in all respects within four weeks; thereafter, the Election Commission of India shall take three months' more time to decide the dispute."
Senior Advocates Kapil Sibal and Kalyan Banerjee appeared for Mamata Banerjee, while Senior Advocate D S Naidu appeared for the Election Commission of India
The Court said, "We don't intend to lay down a procedure that they will follow daily. You complete your proceeding, we will fix a time within which you finish your work. It's not that first time we are dealing with this kind of matter. Both sides, your cooperation will be extremely important, then we will decide in a time-bound manner."
Naidu submitted that in earlier precedents, the dispute resolution process had taken extended durations ranging from six months to over ten months. It was also contended that a significant practical difficulty arose due to the receipt of affidavits running into lakhs from party cadres, office bearers, and members across various districts and panchayats, which required processing and verification.
The Bench remarked that modern data processing methods and machine learning devices could be deployed to streamline the crunching of such extensive data.
The Bench also declined to prescribe day-to-day procedural directives, observing that quasi-judicial proceedings before the Commission ought to be concluded in a time-bound manner with the cooperation of both sides.
On September 21, the Court agreed to list the matter at the earliest.
The bench had asked Naidu to apprise it of the timeline for finally deciding the row over the ownership of TMC's name and election symbol.
Recognizing that time was inadequate to finalize proceedings under Paragraph 15 of the Symbols Order before ongoing bye-elections, the Commission directed both factions to submit three preferred group names and free symbols for temporary allocation.
There are two rival groups in All India Trinamool Congress, one led by Mamata Banerjee and the other led by Arup Roy, and each group claimed to be the party. All India Trinamool Congress has a logo with the symbol “Flowers & Grass” allotted as its reserved symbol in the said states under the provisions of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
An internal rift broke out over the leadership and operational management of the recognized political party, All India Trinamool Congress (AITC), when Mamata Banerjee informed the Election Commission of India (ECI) on June 23, 2026, that an AITC National Working Committee (NWC) meeting took place on June 20, 2026, to announce office bearers.
Simultaneously, Ritabrata Banerjee also submitted a petition contending that the NWC’s mandate had expired on February 11, 2025, making all subsequent actions invalid from the outset, and noted that a Special Session assembled on June 22, 2026, selected Arup Roy as the NWC Chairperson.
Cause Title: Mamata Banerjee v. Election Commission of India & Ors. [Diary No. 58005/2026]