New Delhi: The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Saturday cited a provision in its Constitution prescribing a five-year term for organisational committees and office-bearers to reject a rival faction's claim that the existing organisational structure had ceased to be valid in 2025. In a letter to the Election Commission (EC) after its discussions with the poll panel, TMC's Rajya Sabha leader Derek O'Brien said amendments to the party constitution from 2006 onwards had extended the term of the All India Trinamool Congress and its National Working Committee from three years to five years.
O'Brien cited clause 9(a) of the party's 2010-11 constitution, currently uploaded on the EC's website. The clause says the term of every TMC committee and its office-bearers, executive committee and members shall ordinarily be for five years. The TMC said the same five-year provision was also contained in the constitution received by the EC on March 9 this year. The party also referred to its correspondence with the poll panel in 2015, 2017 and 2022 on its organisational structure and elections, and said copies of the communications are being sent to the EC, along with the latest submission.
The assertion assumes significance as the EC is hearing rival factions' claims over the control of the TMC, including the validity of its existing organisational structure and authorised signatories, ahead of the September 16 bypolls to Nandigram and Rejinagar in West Bengal.
The dispute goes back to June 22, when the leader of the opposition in the West Bengal Assembly, Ritabrata Banerjee, convened a meeting of rebel TMC leaders and announced the formation of a new National Working Committee of the party, with Arup Roy being elected its chairperson. Ritabrata Banerjee had claimed that the party was facing a 'constitutional crisis', arguing that Article 20 of the TMC's constitution required the National Working Committee to be constituted every three years. He had said the previous committee, formed in February 2022, had completed its tenure in February 2025 and was not renewed.
The Mamata Banerjee camp has maintained that the rival faction relied on an outdated provision and overlooked subsequent amendments to the party constitution. It has also disputed the rival camp's claim regarding the composition of the party, saying that public notices were issued during the organisational election process and all MPs and MLAs were made members of the TMC.
It further maintained that the June 22 meeting could not constitute a valid organisational exercise, as the prescribed multi-tier process for forming the party's organisational committees was not followed. The Ritabrata Banerjee-led faction has maintained that its June 22 meeting followed the party constitution and said the EC would decide which side is legitimate.