3 min readSep 18, 2026 01:31 PM IST First published on: Sep 18, 2026 at 01:21 PM ISTFollowing the Election Commission’s move to recognise the split in the Trinamool Congress and the subsequent freeze on the party’s name and symbol, factions led by Mamata Banerjee and Arup Roy have submitted preferences for alternative names and symbols, sources said on Friday.The commission had asked both sides to submit up to three options for names and symbols by 11 am on Friday. The poll body is likely to allot names and symbols that the two sides can use until their dispute is resolved. This is particularly significant for the October 6 bypolls in two Assembly seats in Bengal.AdvertisementThe Mamata Banerjee group, it is learnt, responded to the commission at 11.36 pm on Thursday with three options for the party name, including “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress”. The faction, sources said, has also submitted two options for the poll symbol: one features a football, and the other, a cricket bat.The Arup Roy faction, represented by Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Ritabrata Banerjee, has also submitted its response to the Election Commission.The rebel faction has put forward two names: Jatiyatabadi Trinamool Congress – meaning Nationalistic Trinamool Congress – and Ganatantrik Trinamool Congress (Democratic Trinamool Congress). The group has suggested three options for its poll symbol: a blackboard, an envelope and a torch.Advertisement“The Election Commission’s decision to freeze name and symbol reflected that a political party cannot be a private limited company. Two bypolls are scheduled to be held shortly. We have sent our alternatives to the Election Commission. It is a fight between the collective and the cult,” said Ritabrata Banerjee, leader of the rebel camp.you may likeIn its interim order, the Election Commission had said, “On due consideration of the totality of information available on record…the Commission is of the opinion that there are two rival groups in All India Trinamool Congress, one led by Ms. Mamata Banerjee and the other led by Shri Arup Roy, and each group is now claiming to be the party and therefore the matter requires a substantive determination by the Commission under Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation & Allotment) Order 1968.”Also Read | ‘BJP, Election Commission splitting parties’: Rahul Gandhi on TMC symbol rowIt added that the two factions would not be allowed to use the party’s name and “flowers and grass” symbol till the Election Commission’s final order in the dispute case. With both sides nominating candidates for the bypolls, the commission decided to issue an interim order allotting them new names and symbols for the time being.“Both the groups shall 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”; and both the groups shall also be allotted such different symbols as they may choose from the list of free symbols notified by the Election Commission for the purposes of the current bye-elections,” the order said.