Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Wednesday dismissed a plea filed by the Indian Secular Front (ISF) challenging the Election Commission of India’s allotment of the ‘Envelope’ symbol to Ritabrata Banerjee-led Democratic Trinamool Congress (DTC) for the Nandigram bypoll on Oct 6.Justice Krishna Rao held that the symbol had been allotted to ISF only for the 2026 assembly election, which concluded in May, and did not create any right over its use in the bypoll.“This Court finds that the symbol ‘Envelope’ was allotted to the petitioners to contest the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Election, 2026 which is completed in the month of May, 2026 and thus the petitioners cannot claim any right over the said symbol for the bypoll as the allotment of symbol for the said election was the conditional one,” the court said.The judge also noted that ISF had not produced any document showing that it had applied for the symbol for the bypoll.Senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya, appearing for ISF, argued that the bypoll was a continuation of the assembly election and questioned the reassignment of the symbol. “This time, the same by-election ISF is contesting, now you suddenly, to address the internal dispute of a particular political party, you give our symbol to them. Is it a reasonable exercise of power?”The ECI submitted that ‘Envelope’ was a common symbol allotted to ISF only for the general election and did not confer a right to seek it for a bypoll.During the hearing, Justice Rao had questioned the ECI’s handling of ISF’s Sept 17 representation. After the verdict, ISF counsel Samim Ahmed said he would comment on a possible appeal after going through the judgement.
