The EC's power to freeze party symbols in intra-party disputes is necessary but prone to delay. Discuss with reference to recent disputes.

Para 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968 makes the Election Commission the sole authority to decide which of two rival sections is the recognised party, and its decision binds all groups [1]. The interim freeze of the party's name and symbol is the device the EC uses while that inquiry proceeds — indispensable, yet procedurally open-ended.

Why the power is necessary

• A symbol cannot be split. In Sadiq Ali v. ECI (1971) the Court held that only one rival group can use the reserved symbol; the rest must do without it [3].
• Neutrality between claimants. The EC's interim order of 17 September 2026 barred both camps from using "All India Trinamool Congress" simpliciter and the "flowers and grass" symbol, placing them on an even keel for the ongoing byelections [4].
• Protecting the voter from confusion, since two candidates bearing one symbol would defeat the purpose of reservation under the Order [1].
• Exclusive, binding forum — it prevents parallel claims from being litigated indefinitely before multiple authorities [1].

Why it is prone to delay

• Para 15 prescribes no timeline; it only requires that all facts be examined and both groups heard [1].
• In the Shiv Sena dispute, the "bow and arrow" was frozen in October 2022 and the final order in Dispute Case No. 1 of 2022 came only on 17 February 2023 — about four months of limbo, followed by prolonged litigation [2].
• The freeze's cost is unequal: a resource-rich faction can popularise a new symbol quickly; a weaker one cannot.
• In the Trinamool matter the Supreme Court declined to stay the freeze but asked the EC to fix a reasonable time and "not prolong" the adjudication [5].

The freeze is thus a legitimate interim safeguard whose weakness lies in procedure, not principle. Publishing a standard, time-bound schedule for Para 15 cases — and statutorily codifying the tests of legislative and organisational majority — would make the power both fair and swift, strengthening the EC's Article 324 mandate of free and fair elections.