NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India has frozen the Trinamool Congress’s party name and its reserved “Flowers & Grass” election symbol amid an ongoing dispute between rival factions within the party.

The interim order bars both factions from using the name All India Trinamool Congress and the traditional symbol in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly bypolls. The dispute involves the factions led by Mamata Banerjee and Ritabrata Banerjee.

The decision comes ahead of the October 6 bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar. The Election Commission has directed both groups to submit three choices each for an alternative party name and three free symbols by 11 am on September 18. Separate names and symbols will then be allotted to the two factions for the bypolls.

The Commission said the arrangement is temporary and will remain in force until the dispute over the party’s leadership and organisational control is finally determined. Both factions had submitted competing claims to the party’s identity, name and election symbol.

The move marks a major development in the internal dispute within the TMC, with both sides now required to contest the upcoming bypolls under separate electoral identities.