The Trinamool Congress (TMC) party has reportedly been exploring legal options to challenge the Election Commission’s order that disqualified the party as a national party, after it lost the status on Monday. The TMC argued that a party’s recognition as a national party depended on its performance in the “subsequent” general elections held after 2016, as per its submission to the EC. However, the EC maintained that the TMC had fallen short of one state required to retain the status, despite being recognised as a national party on September 2, 2016, after the Election Commission amended the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.
The TMC was recognised as a state party in West Bengal, Manipur and Tripura at the time of its national party recognition. Nevertheless, as the amendment came into effect retrospectively from January 2014, the TMC “benefitted” from it as it also got recognised as a state party in Arunachal Pradesh, according to the EC’s order. The TMC argued that it was entitled to enjoy the status of a national party till the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but the EC argued that the party had “ample opportunities” till 2019 to meet the criteria to be a national party, but it could not. Meanwhile, the TMC has faced criticism from the leader of the opposition in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, who questioned when the party would stop using “All India” in its party name. The TMC has not responded to this, while a senior party leader said, “We are exploring legal options to challenge the EC decision.” The BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh claimed that the TMC spent a lot of money to retain its national party status, but failed due to the kind of government their party is running in West Bengal. He further accused the TMC of terrorising people through violence and intimidation, which he claimed would not gain support from people in other states.