Rebel TMC MLAs tell Election Commission they hold two-thirds majority in party split dispute

A delegation of rebel Trinamool Congress legislators met India's Election Commission in Delhi on Thursday and claimed they represent the party's real majority. The group, led by West Bengal Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, said it has support from more than two-thirds of the party's elected representatives. The meeting took place at Nirvachan Sadan on Ashoka Road and came amid an intensifying internal dispute over the party's leadership and organisational control.

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The delegation included nine rebel MLAs and former state minister Snehasis Chakraborty, making it a 10-member group. According to Banerjee, the Election Commission had scheduled a hearing with the faction at noon before the full bench, including Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and the other commissioners. After the meeting, Banerjee said the group had made its case and was hopeful of a response from the commission soon.

He also said the rebels had already written to the commission after a special session held on June 22. The dispute centres on competing claims over who constitutes the party's legitimate leadership and national working committee. The rebel camp says it removed Mamata Banerjee as chairperson at a special session last month, while her faction has submitted its own list of office-bearers to the Election Commission.

That list includes Mamata Banerjee as chairperson, Abhishek Banerjee as national general secretary, Derek O'Brien and Dola Sen as joint secretaries, Subhashish Chakraborty as treasurer, and Sovondeb Chatterjee as leader in the West Bengal Assembly. The rival claims have now brought the matter into a formal institutional forum. The hearing matters because the Election Commission is being asked to consider which faction can speak for the party in organisational and legal terms.

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In India, disputes over party identity, office-bearers and internal majority can have consequences for recognition, representation and the handling of official correspondence. The rebels' claim that they have the backing of MLAs, councillors and zila parishad members suggests the dispute extends beyond a small leadership row and into the party's wider elected base. That gives the commission's response potential significance for the party's standing in West Bengal politics.

The row has also widened into parallel political and legal moves. The Mamata Banerjee-led faction has already filed two police complaints against the dissident group, according to the material supplied. Separately, the West Bengal police have denied permission to both camps to hold separate July 21 Martyrs' Day rallies at Esplanade.

Those developments indicate that the dispute is no longer confined to internal party meetings and is now affecting public political activity in the state. What remains unclear is how the Election Commission will assess the competing claims and whether it will recognise either side's version of the party structure. It is also not yet clear whether the commission will seek further documentation or call both factions again.

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