TMC maintains diplomatic silence as it mulls challenge to ECI ruling

By Sumanta Ray Chaudhuri
Kolkata, April 16 The Trinamool Congress, otherwise quite vocal on any issue, is surprisingly maintaining an extremely conservative approach in reacting to the Election Commission of India (ECI) recently stripping the West Bengal's ruling party of its national party status.

Not a single reaction has come on this count either from chief minister Mamata Banerjee or the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee. It is only veteran Trinamool Congress leader Saugata Roy who has claimed that the party leadership might challenge the ECI's decision legally after carefully reviewing the grounds under which the national party status was withdrawn and consulting the legal brains of the party. He said that previously too there had been examples that the decision of the ECI proved to be wrong.

"The Commission has also been censored by the Supreme Court a number of times. Besides sending a deputation to the Commission, we might also consider taking the legal route in this matter," Roy said.

The opposition parties especially the BJP have taken potshots at the Trinamool Congress over the development. The BJP's national vice-president Dilip Ghosh has claimed the development has sounded the death knell for Mamata Banerjee's dream to become the Prime Minister. The BJP's West Bengal unit president Sukanta Majumdar said that the efforts of the Trinamool Congress to expand its network in states like Goa and Tripura by spending crores from its ill-gotten wealth from various scams ultimately could not succeed.

Legal experts feel that the grounds on which the Trinamool Congress's national party status was withdrawn are so valid that there are hardly any arguments against the decision. Neither the condition of having two per cent of the Lok Sabha seats from at least three states nor the rider of having state party status in at least four Indian states could be fulfilled by the party.

Though the Trinamool Congress has more than two per cent of the total Lok Sabha seats, all of them are from West Bengal. Similarly, the Trinamool has the state party status in just West Bengal and Meghalaya.

"The decision of the ECI to withdraw the national party status not just for Trinamool Congress but also for parties like NCP and CPI, seems to be extremely carefully drafted, hardly leaving any room for counter-arguments. Any party can surely challenge the decision of the commission in the court. But personally, I doubt how far these counter-arguments will work out," said Calcutta High Court senior counsel Kaushik Gupta.

What is more problematic for the Trinamool Congress is that it will have to contest four elections in the next ten years, namely the Lok Sabha elections in 2024 and 2029 and the West Bengal assembly elections in 2026 and 2031, as a state party, since there is no chance for a review of the national parties' list in the next ten years.

As per the norms set by the ECI in 2016, the revision in the national party list will be done at an interval of every 10 years instead of the earlier period of five years. So, by that calculation the Trinamool Congress will not be able to regain its national party status even if it fulfils the criteria for it in the interim period.

As per the records of the ECI since 2019, the Trinamool Congress had the opportunity to retain its national party status in one Lok Sabha election and assembly elections for a total of 21 states, which the party failed to utilize. That is where the legal observers feel that the counter arguments against the ECI's decision do not hold much water.

Political observers feel that more than the legality, the main issue is purely political. The Trinamool Congress will have to confront the question of whether the party leadership will be able to put renewed focus on states outside West Bengal to get back its national party status where the party is facing a number of adverse factors in its stronghold of West Bengal.

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