Bengal Rebel Faction Challenges Mamata Banerjee's Grip on TMC

A breakaway faction of the Trinamool Congress, led by Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly Ritabrata Banerjee, will meet the full bench of the Election Commission in New Delhi on Thursday. The group intends to stake a claim on the party's election symbol and bank accounts.

A 10-member delegation will appear before Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and other members of the poll panel. Speaking at Kolkata's Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport before leaving for Delhi, Ritabrata said the CEC had agreed to hear them before a full bench. "When we sit before the bench we will present our case," he said.

The rebel faction claims support of over 70 TMC MLAs. Earlier, the group approached the chief electoral officer of West Bengal with a letter asserting its right to be recognised as the official All India Trinamool Congress.

At a meeting in Kolkata on June 22, the rebel MLAs removed party founder and former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from the post of chairperson, electing former Minister Arup Roy as the new chairperson. The Trinamool Congress, founded by Mamata Banerjee in 1998, came to power in West Bengal in 2011, defeating the 34-year-old Left Front government.

The rebellion began after the party lost the 2026 Assembly election to the BJP. Riding a wave of anti-incumbency, the BJP won 208 seats, reducing the TMC to 80 in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.

On Wednesday, TMC MLA Kunal Ghosh, a close aide of Mamata Banerjee, called the move "BJP-sponsored". "It has been doing so in a structured way to damage TMC," Ghosh said.