Kolkata, September 28 (Daily Kiran) : The Calcutta High Court concluded hearings on the petition filed by the All India Secular Front (AISF) regarding the ‘envelope’ election symbol on Monday. The court has reserved its judgment on the matter.
The AISF is contesting the Election Commission‘s decision to revoke the ‘envelope’ symbol, which was previously allocated to them, and subsequently award it to a faction of the Trinamool Congress led by Ritabrata Banerjee ahead of the by-elections in Nandigram and Rezinagar.
Justice Krishna Rao expressed dissatisfaction with the Election Commission’s ruling while reserving the judgment. This decision has sparked political controversy in West Bengal. During the proceedings, Justice Rao noted that had the Election Commission frozen the symbol instead of reallocating it to another party, the dispute could have been avoided.
He raised concerns about the basis for giving the symbol to Ritabrata Banerjee’s faction, questioning why it was reassigned when the AISF had successfully contested elections using the same symbol in the past.
The Election Commission’s lawyer argued that no party can be granted the same election symbol more than twice. The AISF’s sole legislator in the West Bengal Assembly, Naushad Siddiqui, filed the petition, asserting that since he won elections with the ‘envelope’ symbol in both 2021 and 2026, the commission’s decision to transfer it to another party was unjustified.
Earlier this month, the Election Commission decided to freeze the official name and symbol of the Trinamool Congress, which is led by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee. Subsequently, the faction led by Mamata was given the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ and a ‘football player’ symbol, while Ritabrata’s faction received the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ and the ‘envelope’ symbol.
Dissatisfied with the commission’s ruling, Naushad Siddiqui sought intervention from the Calcutta High Court.
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