Kolkata, July 2 (IANS). The ongoing political turmoil within TMC in the politics of West Bengal has now reached the doorstep of the Election Commission. The rebel faction of the party has now officially prepared to stake its claim on the party’s election symbol and funds.
In this connection, 10 rebel MLAs of the Ritabrata Banerjee-led TMC legislature party will meet the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) at the headquarters of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi on Thursday.
The rebel group had already sought time to meet the Election Commission in this matter. Ritabrata Banerjee said that the Commission has accepted their demand and has fixed the time for hearing on Thursday. In this meeting, the rebel group will present legal and political arguments in its favor. For this, all the MLAs had left for New Delhi from Kolkata on Wednesday evening itself.
In fact, the rebel MLAs of Trinamool Congress had formed the new National Working Committee of the party on June 22. A total of 30 members have been included in this committee, while a separate sub-committee of 10 members was also formed.
The biggest decision was that former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was removed from the post of national president in the new committee. Senior TMC MLA Arup Roy was declared the national president in his place. After this the dispute within the party intensified.
A team of lawyers on behalf of the rebel group has already submitted all the proposals, legal documents and necessary documents before the Election Commission. Now in Thursday’s meeting, an attempt will be made to strengthen its claim on the party’s name and election symbol on the basis of these documents.
At present Trinamool Congress has a total of 80 MLAs in the West Bengal Assembly. The rebel group claims that 60 of these MLAs are with them, while 20 MLAs are still standing with the faction led by Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee.
The most important issue of the entire controversy is the right over the party’s name and election symbol. According to the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order of 1968, for a regional party to retain its symbol, it must have at least 6 percent of the total valid votes polled in the state and at least two MLAs.
The rebel group claims that they have more than 60 MLAs with them. He says that if the average vote received by each MLA is considered to be only 80 thousand, then the total votes in his favor come to around 48 lakh, which is much more than the limit of 6 percent fixed by the Election Commission.
At the same time, the rebel group also claims that the original but minority group led by Mamata Banerjee has only 20 MLAs. In such a situation, the number of votes in his favor does not reach the figure of 37.80 lakh. On this basis, the rebel group says that its claim on the party’s name and election symbol is stronger in terms of both numbers and votes.
–IANS
VKU/DKP