New Delhi: The ECI has sought responses from Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee and expelled party leader Ritabrata Banerjee by July 6 over the claims and counterclaims by both factions headed by each of them over organisational elections/authorised signatories, official sources said on Thursday.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has written to both the leaders to submit their responses by 5.30 p.m. on July 6, said sources.
The letters virtually coincided with a representation by the faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee on Thursday before the ECI’s full bench that their numerical superiority establishes their entitlement to the party’s name and election symbol.
A 10-member delegation of the rebel legislators met the full bench of the ECI in the afternoon, and at the end of the meeting, Ritabrata told media persons that there was no question of separately placing the demand for the right over the name and election symbol of the party.
“More than two-thirds of the party MLAs in West Bengal are with us. Most of the former ministers in the previous Trinamool Congress cabinet in West Bengal are on our side. The majority of councillors of different municipal corporations and municipalities are with us. The majority of Zilla Parishad members in different districts are with us. So, what is our need to raise the demand separately for the right over the party name and election symbol?” Ritabrata told media persons at the end of the meeting with the ECI’s full bench.
He also said that on June 22, a special convention of party delegates was organised, nominating veteran party legislator Arup Roy as the new chairperson of the party, replacing the former West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee.
“Akhruzzaman, another legislator, was made the new party treasurer. We informed the Commission about that convention the very next day. Today, the full bench of the Commission gave us time, who represent the All India Trinamool Congress. We met and conveyed our views,” said Ritabrata.
However, party legislator Kunal Ghosh, a prominent face from the “minority” faction, which owes its allegiance to Mamata Banerjee and her nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, ridiculed the meeting of the rebel camp with the ECI’s full bench.
“Trinamool Congress cannot exist without Mamata Banerjee. All the workers and supporters are with her. Those who are claiming to be the ‘real Trinamool Congress today’, the affidavit they gave to the Commission two months back had the signatures of Mamata Banerjee and Abhishek Banerjee on two specific forms. This is like a tenant claiming to be the owner of the house today,” Ghosh said.
(IANS)
