The Election Commission's symbol allotment power, though electorally necessary, risks being perceived as adjudicating internal party democracy. Critically comment.

Paragraph 15 of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, issued under Article 324, empowers the Election Commission to decide which of two rival groups is the "real" recognised party [1]. The recent freeze of the Trinamool Congress name and "flowers and grass" symbol shows both why this power is indispensable and why it invites suspicion.

The power is electorally necessary

• Ballot certainty: one reserved symbol cannot be allotted to two claimants. The EC froze the name and symbol and gave each faction an interim identity, so both could still contest the Nandigram and Rejinagar bypolls of 6 October 2026 [4].
• Judicially sanctioned: in Sadiq Ali v. ECI (1971) the Supreme Court upheld Paragraph 15 and the majority test across the organisational and legislature wings, holding the EC's order binding on returning officers [2].
• Time pressure: a full inquiry needs notices, hearings, affidavits and verification of office-bearer lists — rarely completable before nominations close [1].

Yet it edges into judging internal party democracy

• Headcount replaces organisation: no law mandates audited membership rolls or verified internal elections, so the only testable figure is how many legislators signed on each side — whoever gathers more MLAs effectively owns the party. The petitioner's grievance is precisely that rebel legislators' statements were relied on without examining the party's full structure [5].
• "Interim" but irreversible: votes cast under a new symbol cannot be recalled, and the 1968 Order prescribes no deadline for the final order [1].
• Clashing clocks: Tenth Schedule disqualification proceedings against the same rebels proceed separately, so the EC may be counting legislators later unseated [5]. With no appeal inside the Order, such disputes inevitably reach the courts [1].

The flaw lies less in the EC's intent than in a statutory vacuum. Enacting the Law Commission's 255th Report proposal for regulating internal party democracy, party constitutions and internal elections [3], alongside self-imposed EC timelines and reasoned orders, would let the Commission test the party rather than merely count its legislators — strengthening both electoral certainty and intra-party democracy.