"Majority supports us": Ritabrata-led TMC stakes claim on symbol and fund before EC

Following a highly critical meeting with the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) in New Delhi, rebel leader Ritabrata Banerjee announced that his faction has formally presented its case to claim structural control of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). Banerjee confirmed that the poll panel granted a comprehensive hearing to their 10-member legislative delegation, during which they laid out the structural developments regarding the leadership transitions within the organization. He extended his gratitude to the election commissioners for hearing their arguments and indicated that the constitutional body is expected to deliver its regulatory decision on the party dispute shortly.

The crux of the submission centered around the newly established National Working Committee, which the rebel group formed during a special organizational session held on June 22. Banerjee emphasized that the regulatory panel was fully notified of these sweeping changes immediately after the new committee took operational shape. During that June convention, the faction made the radical decision to remove party founder Mamata Banerjee from the supreme post and unanimously appointed veteran MLA Arup Roy as the new national chairman of the Trinamool Congress, subsequently establishing a 30-member apex executive body to challenge the traditional leadership.

Defending their absolute right over the party apparatus, Banerjee stated that his camp does not merely look to extract concessions but fundamentally embodies the legitimate All India Trinamool Congress due to overwhelming legislative superiority. He asserted that because a clear majority of elected MPs and MLAs actively support their parallel executive wing, the party's official poll symbol and central funds legally belong to them. Launching a sharp rhetorical attack against the rival camp operating out of Kalighat, the leader claimed that the original organization had effectively been hijacked by a corrupt network of mafias and political operators, rendering the newly independent Working Committee the sole true custodian of the party.