Ritabrata-led faction should not be given more time for reply : Mamata to EC

New Delhi, Jul 13 (PTI) Trinamool Congress chairperson Mamata Banerjee has written to the Election Commission, urging it not to give more time to a rival faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee to submit claims on authorised signatories and organisational polls. An ongoing tussle within the party intensified on July 2 when the rebel faction approached the EC to claim to be the "real" All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). The faction said it had informed the commission after a special session it held on June 22 and sought recognition of the organisational changes it claimed to have carried out. Following the claim, the poll body sent letters to both Mamata Banerjee and Ritabrata Banerjee, asking them to submit their responses by 5.30 pm on July 6. While the Mamata Banerjee-led group submitted its response on July 6 before the deadline, the Ritabrata-led faction got an extension till 5.30 pm, July 10, to submit its response. In her letter to the poll panel dated July 12, Mamata Banerjee, a former West Bengal chief minister, said, "Though it is well past 10th July 2026, and it has been about 2 days therefrom, there has not been any communication made to the undersigned from the end of Shri Ritabrata Banerjee concerning such reply." She said that they have not received any response from the Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction so far. According to TMC sources, the EC had asked both sides to keep each other informed about the response. "Hence, it can be inferred, in the absence or the failure to communicate to the undersigned, despite the precondition imposed by the Election Commission of India, that the Election Commission has also not been provided with the said reply within the extended time period," she said. The leader said that the "leeway" granted to Ritabrata to file the reply at a later stage was not extended to them, and they were given "virtually two half-working days to reply to the communication dated 2nd July 2026." "Even after the delay of another 48hrs from 10th July, your good office has maintained a stoic silence, giving further elbow-room to Shri Banerjee, demonstrating your inclination towards the mala fide cause of Shri Ritabrata Banerjee," she said. "Therefore, it is vehemently asserted that the reply submitted from the end of the undersigned should be considered at the earliest without giving further time to the said Shri Ritabrata Banerje," Mamata added. TMC MP Mahua Moitra, meanwhile, accused the poll panel of giving the rebels "special treatment" and questioned its impartiality. "The Election Commission is expected to function as a neutral constitutional authority and provide a level playing field. Why has this additional time and special treatment been given to the other side after they failed to meet the original deadline, while we complied within time?" she said at a press conference. Moitra also claimed that the EC acted with unusual speed in responding to the rival faction's representation on July 2. "Within just three to four hours, the Election Commission wrote to us. In our experience, this is unprecedented, as the commission usually takes much longer to respond," she said. "You cannot have a compromised referee. We believe the Election Commission must demonstrate impartiality and complete its inquiry on the basis of the reply submitted within the prescribed timeline," she said. In its reply to EC, the Mamata Banerjee-led party rejected the rebel faction's claim and maintained that the TMC's organisational committees remain valid till 2027 under the party constitution. It said the last organisational elections were held in 2022 and contended that the rival faction's claim that the committees ceased to exist in 2025 was factually and legally untenable. PTI AO VN VN