SC sets 4-month deadline for EC to settle TMC symbol dispute

The Supreme Court on Monday, 28 September, gave the Election Commission four months to decide which faction of the Trinamool Congress is entitled to the party's original symbol of two flowers with grass. The rival groups have four weeks to file evidence, after which the EC gets three months to rule. The order came on Mamata Banerjee's petition challenging the EC's September 17 interim order freezing the original symbol. EC counsel sought six months, citing past cases that took six to 10 months, but the bench refused to extend the timeline.

Separately, the Calcutta High Court on Wednesday, 30 September, dismissed the Indian Secular Front's (ISF) petition challenging the EC's allotment of the 'envelope' symbol to the rival Democratic Trinamool Congress for the Nandigram by-poll on October 6. Justice Krishna Rao observed that the ISF had no right to the symbol beyond the 2026 assembly election, which concluded in May. The court had earlier questioned the EC's conduct, suggesting 'connivance', but found no merit in the petition.

Update, 1 October 2026: The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday, 30 September, dismissed the ISF's petition challenging the allotment of the 'envelope' symbol to the Democratic Trinamool Congress for the October 6 Nandigram by-poll. Separately, the Supreme Court on Thursday, 1 October, refused to entertain a plea by Mamata Banerjee's party against the freezing of four Indian Bank accounts by West Bengal Police, and asked the High Court to expedite the hearing.