Kolkata, July 2 (IANS) The full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) will meet the “rebel but majority” faction in Trinamool Congress’ legislative party in the West Bengal Assembly led by the expelled party legislator, Ritabrata Banerjee, where the latter is expected to argue on the points over its rights on the party’s name and election symbol.

Already, a team of 10 legislators from the rebel faction, including Ritabrata Banerjee, reached New Delhi on Wednesday night to attend the meeting with the ECI’s full bench. The time of the meeting at the Commission’s headquarters in the national capital had been fixed at noon on Thursday.

A Commission insider said that, as per protocol, the ECI’s full bench will also hold a meeting with a delegation from the minority faction that is continuing with its allegiance towards Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee at a later stage. This faction will be allowed to present its argument on its rights over the party name and logo.

An insider from the Ritabrata-led rebel faction said that their argument in favour of their rights over the party name and election symbol will be strictly statistics-based.

Trinamool Congress currently has 80 legislators in the West Bengal Assembly, of which 60 are officially in the rebel camp, while 20 are in the “original and minority” camp.

According to the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order of 1968, a regional party must have at least six per cent of the valid votes and at least two MLAs to retain the symbol. Statistics show that in the last elections, the total votes polled in the state were about 6.30 crore, of which six per cent were 37.80 lakh.

The rebel camp of Trinamool Congress legislators claims that they currently have more than 60 MLAs on their side, and even if the average vote received by each MLA is reduced to 80,000, the total votes in their favour come to about 48 lakhs, which is comfortably above the six per cent limit set by the Commission.

On the other hand, according to the rebel camp, the ‘original but minority’ faction has just 20 MLAs on its side. As a result, their votes will not come close to 37 lakhs, which means the rebel faction is way ahead of the original faction in this number game.

A legal battle in the matter is also ongoing at the Calcutta High Court. In such a situation, all eyes will be on the outcome of Thursday’s meeting between the ECI’s full bench and the “rebel but majority” faction’s delegation.

–IANS

src/dpb