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🇮🇳 India /Elections & Politics

Mamata Banerjee, Ritabrata Banerjee factions vie for Trinamool Congress control

From Hindustan Times · () English

Translated from English, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • Two factions of the Trinamool Congress (TMC), one led by Mamata Banerjee and a rebel group led by Ritabrata Banerjee, have filed competing claims for party control with the Election Commission of India.
  • The rebel faction claims support from 65 legislators and voted to remove Mamata Banerjee as chairperson, citing the expiration of the previous committee's tenure.
  • Mamata Banerjee's camp submitted a revised list to the ECI, retaining her as chairperson and Abhishek Banerjee as general secretary, acknowledging their numerical weakness in the legislative wing.

A formal dispute over the control of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has erupted, with both Mamata Banerjee's faction and a rebel group led by West Bengal leader of the opposition Ritabrata Banerjee filing competing claims with the Election Commission of India (ECI). The core of the dispute centers on the party's name, assets, and election symbol.

The rebel faction, asserting the support of 65 out of the party's 80 legislators, held a session where they voted to remove Mamata Banerjee as TMC chairperson. They elected Howrah Central legislator Arup Roy to the position, citing a "constitutional crisis" under Article 20 of the party constitution due to the expiration of the previous national working committee's three-year tenure in February 2022. The group subsequently submitted a letter to the West Bengal chief electoral officer seeking recognition as the official All India Trinamool Congress and rights to the party's twin-flower election symbol.

I cannot comment on the letter they submitted to the EC but by now people have seen that every time they form a new committee the members resign and leave. I can say for sure that the majority of the TMC MLAs are with us.

— Ritabrata BanerjeeSpeaking outside the Election Commission office.

In response, Mamata Banerjee's camp submitted a revised list to the ECI, dated June 20, 2026, which reaffirms her position as chairperson and Abhishek Banerjee as national general secretary. A TMC member of parliament, speaking anonymously, confirmed that this list also names Subrata Bakshi as vice-president, Derek O’Brien and Dola Sen as joint secretaries, and Subhasish Chakraborty as treasurer, while notably dropping Aroop Biswas from the previous committee.

Ritabrata Banerjee, when asked about the ECI submission from Mamata's camp, questioned the legitimacy of Abhishek Banerjee's role. The Mamata Banerjee camp acknowledged its numerical disadvantage within the legislative wing, describing its submission as the "original but minority" list. The internal conflict intensified after the party's loss to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the assembly polls, leading to defections from former ministers to the rebel faction.

Who is Abhishek Banerjee?

— Ritabrata BanerjeeResponding to a question about Abhishek Banerjee.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Hindustan Times in English. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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