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The dates have been going up on Bengali social media since the evening of September 17, as if it is an obituary. Twenty-eight years, and a journey from a hand-drawn flower to a freeze order. 

A demise usually suggests natural causes, but this is not that.

The Election Commission of India’s (ECI) interim order in Dispute Case No. 01 of 2026 came at about half past nine on Thursday night, announced by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. 

The 14-page order said neither the group led by Mamata Banerjee nor the group led by Arup Roy may use the name All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) or the symbol of the twin flowers on grass (jora phool). 

Both were told to submit three alternative names and three preferences from the Commission’s list of free symbols by 11 the following morning, or within 14 hours, for the Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls on October 6.

Mamata Banerjee filed her alternatives at 11.36 pm that night, under what her camp called the “strongest protest”. Senior MP Kalyan Banerjee termed the order as illegal and contrary to law. An elated Ritabrata Banerjee, the leader of the camp that has broken away, said, “The private limited company had ended.”

On Friday, the Election Commission assigned interim names and symbols to both factions for the upcoming bypolls. Mamata Banerjee’s faction will contest under the banner of “Mamata All India Trinamool Congress” with a footballer as its symbol. The Ritabrata Banerjee-led group was designated the “Ganatantrik Trinamool Congress (Democratic Trinamool Congress)” and allocated an envelope as its symbol.

The order was issued on September 17, coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-hyped birthday. Senior Congress leader K.C. Venugopal labeled it a “birthday-night gift” to Modi from Gyanesh Kumar, describing the freezing of the symbol as a bullet through the heart of Indian democracy.

Freezing the AITC name and symbol – after a blatantly unconstitutional hijack by the BJP – is CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s late night birthday gift to Modi ji. Those who fought against the BJP, under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, are now being given the red carpet to rebel against her… https://t.co/6r2jjFGJf1 — K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) September 17, 2026

Freezing the AITC name and symbol – after a blatantly unconstitutional hijack by the BJP – is CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s late night birthday gift to Modi ji.

Those who fought against the BJP, under Mamata Banerjee’s leadership, are now being given the red carpet to rebel against her… https://t.co/6r2jjFGJf1

— K C Venugopal (@kcvenugopalmp) September 17, 2026

Venugopal makes a legitimate point. Equally true is that by the time the Commission acted, there was precious little left to........

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