‘We are the Trinamool Congress’: West Bengal LoP Ritabrata Banerjee amid internal rift with Mamata camp

TMC leader and westward Bengal's Leader of oppositeness Ritabrata Banerjee on tues asserted that thither was no equivocalness over which faction represented the "real" Trinamool Congress, a day after his group submitted a list of the party's national working committee members to the Election Commission of India (ECI).Banerjee claimed that a majority of the party's elected representatives in West Bengal were aligned with his faction and dismissed suggestions that his group would need to stake a claim to the TMC's election symbol.Also Read | TMC split deepens as Mamata, Ritabrata camps move EC, stake claim of party controlAddressing a press conference, Banerjee said, "It is a routine process. Whenever there is a special session or any session, it must be apprised to the Election Commission of India and to the state body also. So that's a normal process. We have just followed what needs to be done... We are the Trinamool Congress. So, no question of claiming the party symbol arises."On Monday, the rebel faction, which claims the backing of 65 of the party's 80 MLAs, convened a meeting at a hotel in New Town, Kolkata. During the session, legislators voted by voice vote to remove party founder Mamata Banerjee as chairperson and elected Howrah Central MLA Arup Roy to the post.The rebels argued that a constitutional crisis had emerged under Article 20 of the party constitution, contending that the three-year term of the national working committee formed in February 2022 had expired.Earlier, Ritabrata had said Mamata would be welcome to serve as TMC's chief advisor."Mamata counters working committee list with another listShortly after the rebel camp submitted its list to the ECI, Mamata Banerjee's faction sent a revised list on Monday night, marked "as on June 20, 2026," retaining Mamata as chairperson and Abhishek Banerjee as national general secretary. Mamata faction described its submission as the "original but minority" list, acknowledging its weaker position within the legislative wing.Who gets to keep the party name?Senior ECI officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the commission would examine the rival claims under Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. The assessment will be based on the two-wing test laid down in the Sadiq Ali vs ECI (1971) case, which evaluates support in both the organisational and legislative wings. According to the rebel faction, it enjoys the backing of 81% of TMC legislators and 71% of the party's Lok Sabha MPs.