NEW DELHI: Calcutta high court on Thursday pulled up the Election Commission for assigning the “envelope” symbol, previously used by the Indian Secular Front, to the newly formed Democratic Trinamool Congress ahead of bypolls in West Bengal.In an oral observation, the court said that the poll panel “should act fairly” and questioned why the commission decided to allot the “envelope” symbol to the DTMC when 183 free election symbols were at its disposal.“The authority should act fairly,” Justice Krishna Rao observed.“Your authority is pinching the persons and creating legal proceedings; is this the way of the authority to work?” Justice Rao told the EC’s lawyer during the hearing of the ISF petition.“Every time, for one reason or another, you are compelling the persons to come to court,” the bench added.Meanwhile, the EC’s counsel stated that the choice was up to the petitioners contesting the elections to choose a symbol, a claim that the petitioner’s lawyer contested, saying it was the commission that finally allotted the symbol.Earlier, in an interim order, the poll panel froze the All India Trinamool Congress name and its “flowers and grass” symbol after recognising a factional dispute within the party. Neither faction can use the original name or symbol until the dispute is finally settled.The temporary arrangement will apply to the upcoming bypolls, with candidates of the two factions contesting under the separate names and symbols allotted by the Commission.
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The Election Commission has been hearing competing claims over control of the party, its name and election symbol. Both sides have submitted documents and appeared before the Commission during the proceedings.The dispute reached the poll panel after rival groups staked claims to control the TMC. The commission subsequently sought submissions on issues including organisational control, authorised office-bearers, party assets, the party name and its election symbol.
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