Rebel TMC group to meet ECI over symbol & funds

KOLKATA: Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly, Ritabrata Banerjee and nine other MLAs of the dissident faction of Trinamool Congress, will meet the Election Commission of India in New Delhi on Thursday regarding the ownership of party funds and its twin-flower symbol.

The ten-member delegation, which comprises the newly-formed National Working Committee, reached Delhi on Wednesday to meet Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the other election commissioners to stake its claim on Trinamool's symbol and funds. "The meeting with ECI will be tomorrow afternoon. We are the real Trinamool and we have the numbers. Three accounts have already been frozen," a senior dissident MLA told ET on condition of anonymity.

The dissident Trinamool faction with 64 MLAs is likely to state before the poll panel that they represent the 'real' Trinamool Congress and that it be recognised as the party's legitimate organisational and legislative wing.


According to Paragraph 15 of Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, the Election Commission is to decide on symbol of a party in connection to splinter groups or rival sections of a recognised party.