The Calcutta High Court on Monday allowed the Trinamool Congress faction led by former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee to continue the “partial” and “conditional” use of funds lying in three bank accounts of the party, despite an interim Election Commission of India (ECI) order freezing the party’s name and electoral symbol.
Justice Saugata Bhattacharya made it clear that the ECI’s interim decision concerning the name “All India Trinamool Congress” and the party’s “Flowers and Grass” symbol would not affect the court’s earlier order permitting the Mamata Banerjee-led faction to operate the accounts under specified conditions.
The court noted that the ECI had not issued a final decision on the dispute and had only passed an interim order in connection with the upcoming by-elections in Nandigram in East Midnapore district and Rejinagar in Murshidabad district.
In view of this, Justice Bhattacharya said the High Court would maintain its earlier position regarding the conditional use of funds from the three accounts. The Mamata Banerjee-led faction will retain the right to utilise the funds, subject to the court’s conditions, until January 29, 2027.
Under the ECI’s interim order issued last week, neither the Mamata Banerjee faction nor the rival faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee can, for the time being, use the Trinamool Congress name or its election symbol.
Additional Advocate General Rajdeep Majumdar, appearing for the West Bengal government, argued that since the ECI had frozen the party name and symbol, neither faction should be allowed to operate the three accounts, which are registered in the name of the All India Trinamool Congress.
The High Court, however, held that the ECI order being interim in nature did not warrant any change in its previous decision concerning the bank accounts.
The three accounts had earlier been frozen by the state police over alleged illegal transactions. The Mamata Banerjee faction subsequently approached the Calcutta High Court challenging the action.
On July 9, the court had allowed the faction to exercise control over the accounts, while imposing restrictions on withdrawals and expenditure. A court-appointed officer was tasked with overseeing the use of the funds and permitting expenditure for essential party activities, including day-to-day operations and payment of workers’ salaries.
The court had also directed the police to investigate the alleged illegal transactions and submit a report. During Monday’s hearing, the police informed the court that the investigation had been completed and the report submitted.
