Kolkata, 18 September

The Election Commission's interim decision to bar rival TMC factions from using the party's name and its twin-flowers-on-grass symbol in the West Bengal bypolls drew sharply divergent reactions, with the Mamata Banerjee camp rejecting the order as "contrary to law" and the rebel Ritabrata Banerjee-led bloc welcoming it.

In a stunning setback to the political identity of the party she founded in 1998 after breaking away from the Congress, Mamata Banerjee's hand-drawn symbol was temporarily taken off the EVMs, with neither faction allowed to use it or the All India Trinamool Congress name in the October 6 by-elections to Nandigram and Rejinagar assembly segments.

TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee, a loyalist of the former chief minister, said they did not accept the order.

"This order is contrary to law. We are not accepting it as there are so many legal infirmities. Facts have not been placed in the order. But at times you have to accept things which may not be in adherence to norms, rules and law for a temporary period," he said.

TMC MLA Akhruzzaman Ansari, a leader of the rebel camp, said they would abide by the interim arrangement, expressing confidence that they would eventually get the party's "original" name and symbol.

"We accept the EC's order. Obviously, we wanted the twin-flower-on-grass symbol. But the poll panel, for the time being, has given an interim order. We are confident that when it gives the final verdict, we will get the official and original name and symbol of the party," said Ansari, who is the opposition chief whip in the assembly.

The EC on Thursday said it had found two rival groups claiming to be the All India Trinamool Congress and required determination under Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

Pending its decision, neither faction will be allowed to use the name "All India Trinamool Congress" or the reserved "Flowers and Grass" symbol in the Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls, the poll panel said.

The EC has asked both groups to submit, by 11 am on September 18, three names in order of preference and symbols from its list of free symbols. They may retain a reference to their parent party in the names they propose.

The BJP sought to use the development to attack the TMC, saying this was what the opposition party deserved.

"It is people's curse that has hit TMC. The kind of torture that they had unleashed in the last 15 years on West Bengal and its people; this is the befitting reply. This is what they deserved," state BJP spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said.

The TMC was founded by Mamata Banerjee on January 1, 1998, after she broke away from the Congress.

Banerjee had personally sketched the party's symbol to represent its grassroots political identity. Party leaders claim that the twin blooms also represented social harmony and secularism.

The symbol subsequently became inseparable from the TMC's political identity, through its rise from a breakaway Congress formation to the principal political force in West Bengal.

The turmoil within the TMC began soon after it lost the assembly elections to the BJP, with the party's organisational and legislative structures becoming the principal arenas of a bitter power struggle.

A sizeable group of legislators backed Ritabrata Banerjee for the Leader of the Opposition post, rejecting Mamata Banerjee's nominee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay. The rift extended to the party's organisation, with the rebels supporting a parallel leadership structure, making senior MLA Arup Roy its chairperson.

The electoral loss in West Bengal also impacted the TMC's parliamentary party, with a section of Lok Sabha members joining the little-known NCPI, which went on to support the BJP-led NDA.

The organisational rift eventually reached the Election Commission, which heard the two sides separately earlier this month and sought additional documents before issuing its interim order.

The order has immediate electoral implications as both camps have already announced candidates for the bypolls. Both factions will now enter the fray without the name and symbol that have been associated with the party since its formation.