The Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress camp has decided to contest the upcoming Assembly bypolls in Nandigram and Rejinagar using the party’s traditional grass-and-two-flowers, or jora phool, symbol, amid an ongoing dispute over the ownership of the Trinamool Congress name and election symbol.

The decision comes after the Election Commission did not issue any interim order on the party’s symbol following a hearing involving the rival Trinamool factions.

There had been speculation that the poll panel could temporarily freeze the jora phool symbol, forcing both camps to contest the bypolls with alternative symbols.

However, no such order had been issued by Sunday morning.

Kalyan Banerjee, an MP from the Mamata camp, said the Election Commission had summoned the faction again for hearings on September 16 and 17.

This has led the Kalighat camp to conclude that the dispute is unlikely to be settled before the nomination process for the two bypolls progresses.

The timing is crucial. September 16 is the last date for filing nominations for the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bypolls, while candidates can withdraw their nominations until September 19.

The central dispute is over who can legitimately use the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) name and the jora phool symbol.

The Mamata Banerjee camp and the rebel Trinamool faction have both laid claim to being the party's legitimate representative.

The possibility of the Election Commission freezing the symbol had therefore emerged as a major concern for the Mamata camp.

Such a move would have meant that neither faction could use the traditional Trinamool symbol in the bypolls and both would have had to seek alternative symbols.

With no interim freeze announced so far and another hearing scheduled for September 16 and 17, the Mamata camp has opted to proceed with the jora phool symbol in the two constituencies.

The development comes at a politically sensitive juncture for the Trinamool Congress, with the dispute over the party’s organisational identity now spilling directly into the electoral arena.