The Trinamool Congress faction led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee moved the Supreme Court on Friday (September 18, 2026) against a decision by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to freeze the party’s symbol.

The petition was filed hours after the top poll body on Friday (September 18, 2026) allotted new names and symbols to the two factions of the Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Banerjee and Ritabrata Banerjee.

On Thursday (September 17, 2026), the ECI had issued an interim order barring the use of the party symbol and name in the upcoming Assembly byelections in Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal.

The Mamata-led faction got the name ‘Mamata All India Trinamool Congress’ with ‘football player’ as its symbol, while the Ritabrata-led grouping was allotted the name ‘Democratic Trinamool Congress’ with the symbol of an ‘envelope’.

The plea said the ECI did not comprehensively look into the party structure while considering rival claims made by the two camps.

The petition said the Election Commission had banked on the statements of rebel legislators who were facing disqualification proceedings under the Tenth Schedule (anti-defection law) of the Constitution.

The Mamata Banerjee camp has also filed a separate petition highlighting the delay in the disqualification proceedings pending before the West Bengal Assembly Speaker against the 10 legislators from the rebel faction.

The Kolkata Police on Saturday (August 29, 2026) registered a suo motu FIR against former West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee for alleged violation of Calcutta High Court-imposed conditions for holding a Trinamool Chhatra Parishad (TMCP) foundation day event in Kolkata.

The FIR was filed at the Hastings Police Station against Ms. Banerjee as well as the organisers of the meeting of the TMCP, an officer said.

“The FIR has been registered for the alleged violation of the court’s order. The role of all those involved in the violation will be examined during the course of the investigation,” he said.

The case was registered after examining the conditions imposed by the court for holding the meeting at Cathedral Road in central Kolkata on Friday (August 28, 2026).

The disbursement of cash to women under the West Bengal government’s Annapurna Bhandar scheme has given a handle to the Opposition parties to target the Suvendu Adhikari government. 

Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee took the opportunity on Monday (August 24, 2026) to target the Bharatiya Janata Party government. “Before the election, the BJP did not discuss eligibility to receive the money. Will the BJP now decide who is eligible? Why are women not receiving money under the Annapurna scheme? Women are being given benefits based on caste and religion,” the former Chief Minister said.

Women in different parts of the State came out in protest last week, alleging that they have been denied benefits of ₹3000 per month under the scheme. Mr. Banerjee had launched a scheme to give cash to women in the State in 2021, and before the change of regime, the number of beneficiaries who were receiving the benefits of ₹1500 per month had climbed up to 2.2 crore.

On Monday (August 24, 2026), Ms. Banerjee assured women who have been denied benefits that she will stand by them. “Take down the names of those who are being deprived of Lakshmir Bhandar and Annapurna Yojana benefits. They will be contacted. I was with you, I am with you, and I will remain with you,” the Trinamool Congress chairperson said.

Alleging that the BJP government has denied her permission to hold public meetings, Ms. Banerjee also added that those who think she will retire from politics simply because of permission being denied permission are mistaken. “Our fight will not stop until the BJP itself is forced into political retirement,” she said.

Hours later Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said that 1.45 crore beneficiaries have been disbursed with Annapurna Yojana funds. The Chief Minister tried to defend the fact that beneficiaries of Annapurna Bhandar are being scrutinised and said that if the scheme was universal, then why was it promised to women between 25 and 60 years of age during the Trinamool Congress regime.

Mr. Adhikari refuted allegations of Muslim being denied benefits under the scheme and said that about 19.20 lakh Muslims have got benefits under the scheme. “ Those eligible, whether Hindu or Muslim, Trinamool or BJP, have received the benefits,” the Chief Minister said. Mr. Adhikari said that a portal has been opened where people can lodge complaints for denial of benefits and also complain if anyone who is non-deserving is getting benefits of the scheme.

The Bhabanipur MLA, who had defeated the former Chief Minister on two occasions in 2026 and 2021, took a swipe at Ms. Banerjee who has been going live on social media rather than holding press conferences.

“Stay on Facebook, we will make arrangements so that she cannot go out on the streets,” Mr. Adhikari said.

The TMC supremo also alleged that some people in the BJP who do not know the politics, the culture, are insulting Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose.

Former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday (August 4, 2026) raised doubts over the ongoing Census exercise in West Bengal and asked whether it is turning out to be another Special Intensive Revision (SIR). 

“Census has been started. But no political party has been informed. At least the Trinamool Congress was not informed. Nobody knows whose name will be deleted. Is it going to be another SIR? Who knows!!” said Ms. Banerjee during a livestream on Facebook. 

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Over 90 lakh voters’ names were deleted in SIR in West Bengal while the special appellate tribunals and judicial panels are still reviewing thousands of appeals and applications stemming from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exclusions. The exercise also sparked a massive political controversy as the Trinamool Congress accused the BJP of targeting Muslims and deleting their names from the voter lists. They also accused the BJP of trying to implement CAA in Bengal through the backdoor of this exercise. 

Meanwhile, the self-enumeration process for Census 2027 has started in West Bengal to register the household details online before census officials begin door-to-door visits. The online self-enumeration window for the first phase of the Census will remain open till August 15. 

Ms. Banerjee, on Tuesday, called for a mass movement to stop BJP’s anarchy and urged all the political parties to come together to fight this battle. “Those who are thinking that they can fight it alone are making the biggest mistake,” she said. 

She alleged that the West Bengal government is not allowing her to come on the streets by not giving permission for any of their political events or gatherings. She said that the BJP has also planfully frozen all the party’s bank accounts. 

She also slammed the BJP for misusing the police to threaten their legislators. “They have turned Sonar Bangla into a prison. Police are threatening all the MLAs and MPs to follow what the BJP is saying. Is this the police’s job to do? Most of these BJP leaders neither understand politics nor the culture of Bengal. Sometimes, silence is good. But they don’t know what happens when the river flows by breaking all the barriers,” said Ms. Banerjee. 

She also criticised the BJP and said, “Some people in the BJP who do not know the politics, the culture, are insulting the patriot Subhash Chandra Bose. The slogan Jai Hind is heard on everyone’s lips. Netaji and Rabindranath Tagore are out of the country. Many are making fun of them. We are ashamed to hear their language. Some are calling him a traitor. Some are playing the dirty game of politics.”

Urging the younger generation to remain vigilant, she said, “I will tell the young generation to look a little. Will Bengal be lost from Bengal? Before coming to power, the BJP said that it would open the file. Where did all that go? Netaji will be disrespected in his place.”

The TMC supremo said that she will come back with double strength every time the BJP will try to stop her. “It is my right to fight for the people. I don’t care about the chair. BJP wants to control both the government and the opposition. People will not spare it. If they have toxic traits in their heads, we have the message of harmony.”

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Monday (July 20, 2026) made public the report of Justice Susanta Chatterjee commission, which probed the police firing on July 21, 1993 which claimed the lives of 13 Youth Congress supporters.

The commission was set up by former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after she came to power in 2011 and Mr. Adhikari said Ms. Banerjee neither implemented several key recommendations of the panel nor made its report public despite receiving it in 2014. Ms. Banerjee, a Youth Congress leader then, was also injured in the police action. The report was made public on the eve of Martyrs Day rally, when the rival factions of the Trinamool Congress will hold separate rallies in Kolkata.

“The commission recommended ₹25 lakh as compensation for the family of each person killed and ₹5 lakh for every injured person. But the previous Trinamool Congress government neither implemented these recommendations nor paid the compensation,” Mr. Adhikari said. The families of those killed received only ₹2 lakh and the injured ₹15,000, the Chief Minister alleged.

Mr. Adhikari said the former Chief Minister had always claimed to be the prime witness in the July 21 firing, but she was not asked by the commission to give her statement. The Chief Minister referred the role of the then Home Secretary Manish Gupta, who later went on to become Power Minister in the Mamata Banerjee government.

“The Mamata Banerjee dispensation also did not implement several recommendations made by the commission in its report, despite receiving it in 2014. Mr. Gupta was the Power Minister in her government then, and she was probably trying to save him,” Mr. Adhikari said.

According to the Chief Minister, the commission had summoned a total of 44 people, including former Chief Minister (late) Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the then Chief Secretary N. Krishnamurthy and the then Home Secretary, Mr. Manish Gupta, former Kolkata Police Commissioner Tushar Kanti Talukdar and CPI(M) leader Biman Bose.

“Many have used the emotions of July 21 and the blood of martyrs to amass their personal property and political fortunes, but the families of the martyrs are being completely neglected today,” Mr. Adhikari said.

‘Unnecessary, unjustified’

Reading out portions of the panel report, Mr. Adhikari said it had concluded there was no situation warranting police firing on the Youth Congress rally and described the use of force as “unnecessary, unjustified and unprovoked”. The commission found that apprehensions of protesters storming Writers’ Buildings, the then State secretariat, were “imaginary”, and the police firings at Mayo Road, Dorina Crossing and Esplanade were completely unwarranted.

Mr. Adhikari said the panel had prepared a list of 44 key witnesses, including Mr. Gupta, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, ex-Kolkata Police commissioner Mr. Tushar Talukdar, veteran Left leader Mr. Biman Bose and former Congress leader Somen Mitra, but questioned why Ms. Banerjee herself was not examined.

Mr. Adhikari said his government would subsequently table other pending reports in the Assembly, including those relating to the Comptroller and Auditor General’s observations on Cyclone Amphan relief and alleged irregularities in the procurement of medical equipment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amidst the ongoing rebellion in the party, the Trinamool Congress led by party chairperson Mamata Banerjee has sent a fresh list of its office-bearers and national working committee members to the Election Commission (EC). The rebel faction of the party, which had appointed a new chairperson on Monday (June 22, 2026), also submitted a list of office-bearers to the EC through the office of Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal.

In the list submitted by her loyalists, Ms. Banerjee remains the chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress, while Subrata Bakshi is the vice-president and Abhishek Banerjee is the national general secretary and the party’s leader in the Lok Sabha.

The list has named Derek O’Brien (Rajya Sabha MP) and Dola Sen as joint secretaries and Subhasish Chakraborty as treasurer. The national working committee includes Ms. Banerjee, Mr. Bakshi, Mr. Banerjee, Mr. O’Brien, Ms. Sen, and Mr. Chakraborty.

Chandrima Bhattacharya has been listed as West Bengal Trinamool Congress president and Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay as the Leader of the West Bengal Assembly. The two are also members of the national working committee.

The development comes a day after the rebel faction, led by Ritabrata Banerjee, held a special session in Kolkata and announced a parallel organisational structure. Former Minister Aroop Roy has been appointed as the new chairperson of the party, and MLAs Sandipan Saha, Jawed Khan, and Mr. Ritabrata Banerjee have been declared as general secretaries.

On the day Ms. Banerjee’s loyalists wrote to the EC, Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee reached the office of Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal. He said that after the national working committee of the party met and elected the party chairperson, it was necessary to inform the same to the EC.

“The Election Commission must be apprised whenever such events take place. It was a routine process; we had already apprised them in Delhi, and today we came here to do the same..,” the LoP said. Meanwhile, sources close to Ms. Banerjee’s camp said that the party had issued show-cause notice to the leaders of the rebel camp who had been appointed as office-bearers replacing Ms. Banerjee and Mr. Abhishek Banerjee.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also spoke about the rebellion in the Trinamool Congress and said that the party would never recover from the split. “There are several parties who have lost elections, but nobody suffers from a fate like this (referring to the Trinamool Congress),” Mr. Adhikari said while speaking in the State Assembly.

After the 2026 West Bengal Assembly polls, which the Trinamool Congress lost to the Bharatiya Janata Party, a rebellion started in the party’s rank and file. On June 3, 58 MLAs of the party supported Mr. Ritabrata Banerjee in his claim as the Leader of Opposition. The number of MLAs in his support now has increased to 65, as per the LoP’s claims. Out of 80 MLAs of the Trinamool who won in the election, 14 are supporting Ms. Banerjee and one is behind bars.

Among the party’s 28 Lok Sabha MPs, 20 have decided to part ways with Ms. Banerjee and have formed a separate group. They have merged with little-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI) and have decided to support the BJP-led government at the Centre.