By-elections in West Bengal will test rival Trinamool groups’ claim to the party symbol

A question is doing the rounds in political circles: who will get Trinamool Congress’s “grass and two flower symbol” in the upcoming by-elections File | Photo Credit: PTI

With by-elections scheduled for October 6 for two Assembly constituencies in West Bengal – Nandigram and Rejinagar – both factions of the Trinamool Congress – one led by Mamata Banerjee and the other by Ritabrata Banerjee – have decided to field candidates on both the seats.

But the question in political circles is: who will get the “grass and two flowers symbol of the Trinamool Congress” in the upcoming by-elections.

“We will fight the by-polls. At the time of filing nominations, we will state that our candidates are from the Trinamool Congress and claim the two-petaled flower symbol. If the Election Commission does not give us the symbol by the deadline, our candidates will contest as independents,” West Bengal Chief Opposition Whip Akhruzzaman said on Wednesday, September 26.

Leader of the Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee, Akhruzzaman and most of the Trinamool Congress MLAs moved away from Mamata Banerjee weeks after the 2026 assembly debacle. 80 Trinamool Congress MLAs were elected to the 18th West Bengal Assembly on 4 May 2026 and more than 65 of them turned rebel and severed ties with Mamata Banerjee. Ritabrata Banerjee, Akhruzzaman and other leaders of the rebel faction represented the ECI to claim the party symbol.

Mamata Banerjee’s faction is not passing up the opportunity to field candidates in the by-elections, especially when it has only a handful of MLAs in the State Assembly. Sources from Mamata Banerjee’s group say the party will field candidates. Loyalists of Mamata Banerjee say the party’s symbol of grass with double flowers will remain with them until the ECI decides otherwise.

There is some speculation that the party chairman may run from either of the two seats, although there is no official word on this. Ms. Banerjee lost to Suvendu Adhikari by a narrow margin of 1,526 votes in 2021 from the Nandigram Assembly seat. Rejinagar in Murshidabad has a majority of voters from the Muslim community and if all opposition parties support the Trinamool Congress president, she could find her way back to the state assembly.

The by-election was called by Suvendu Adhikari who won from Bhabanipur and Nandigram, giving up Nandigram and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) leader Humayun Kabir who won from Naoda and Rejinagar and gave up Rejinagar. Suvendu Adhikari won the Nandigram seat in the 2026 assembly election by securing 9,665 votes, while Humayun Kabir won the Rejinagar seat by a margin of 58,876 votes.

Mr. Kabir’s son Golam Nabi Azad filed his nomination as an AJUP candidate on Wednesday (September 9, 2026). The deadline for filing nominations for the by-election is September 16.

Published – 10 Sep 2026 10:59 IST