The Mamata Banerjee-led faction of the All India Trinamool Congress on Monday (September 21, 2026) unveiled a new logo featuring its interim election symbol — a football player — and asked its leaders and elected representatives to publicise it, as the party races to build a new electoral identity after losing its familiar name and flowers-and-grass symbol.
On September 17, the EC heard the rival claims over the Trinamool Congress and later ordered that neither faction would be permitted to use the party’s existing name and symbol pending a substantive determination of the dispute. Pradhan was subsequently arrested in connection with cases dating back to the 2007 Nandigram land acquisition movement. The exercise comes days after the Election Commission (EC) froze the use of the ‘All India Trinamool Congress’ name and its reserved flowers-and-grass symbol amid an escalating internal dispute over control of the party. With only a fortnight left for the Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls , the Mamata camp is seeking to ensure that voters can connect the new symbol with the political identity they have traditionally associated with the Trinamool Congress. For the Mamata faction, the choice of name itself carries an unmistakable political message. Mamata Banerjee’s nominee Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew from the contest after meeting Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, following which Banerjee extended support to Congress candidate Milan Pradhan. Mr. That legal battle could ultimately determine what happens to the original party name and symbol. But the political campaign cannot wait for that resolution.
Party sources said all office-bearers, leaders, workers and elected representatives have been asked to use their respective platforms to circulate the logo and familiarise voters with the new symbol. “Mamata” has been inserted into the party’s interim identity, putting the leader’s name where the old organisational label had stood, while the football player symbol gives the faction a new visual marker to take to the electorate.
