Editing Trinamool Congress (section)

=== Founding ===
After being a member of the [[Indian National Congress]] (INC) for over 26 years, [[Mamata Banerjee]] quit the INC and established the TMC in 1998. The official election symbol of the TMC is ''Jora Ghas Phul'' (two flowers with grass). In the 1998 Lok Sabha polls, TMC won seven seats. In the next Lok Sabha election that was held in 1999, Trinamool Congress won eight seats with BJP, thus increasing its tally by one.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/SR_KeyHighLights/LS_1999/Vol_I_LS_99.pdf|title=Statistical Report on General Elections, 1999 to the 13th Lok Sabha|publisher=Election Commission of India}}</ref> In 2000, TMC won the Kolkata Municipal Corporation Elections.<ref>{{cite news|date=13 May 2011|title=The fall and rise of Trinamool Congress|url=https://indianexpress.com/article/india/latest-news/the-fall-and-rise-of-trinamool-congress/|access-date=11 December 2021|work=The Indian Express}}</ref>

The party initially joined the [[National Democratic Alliance (India)|National Democratic Alliance]] (NDA), as part of the [[Vajpayee government]], and was initially quite successful, winning seven seats in its [[1998 Indian general election|first election in 1998]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/SR_KeyHighLights/LS_1998/Vol_I_LS_98.pdf |title=Statistical Report on General Elections, 1998 to the 12th Lok Sabha |publisher=Election Commission of India}}</ref><ref name="IndiaToday">{{cite news |url=http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/trinamool-congress-chief-mamata-banerjee-a-profile/1/138015.html |title=Mamata, the street-fighting politician and Left nemesis |work=[[India Today]] |date=13 May 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518043559/http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/story/trinamool-congress-chief-mamata-banerjee-a-profile/1/138015.html |archive-date=18 May 2011 }}</ref> In the 2001 Vidhan Sabha elections, the TMC won 60 seats in alliance with the INC, becoming the principal opposition party.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/SR_KeyHighLights/SE_2001/StatRept_WB_2001.pdf|title=Key Highlights of General Election, 2001 to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal |publisher=Election Commission of India}}</ref> They suffered big losses in the [[2004 Indian general election|2004 Lok Sabha elections]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://eci.nic.in/eci_main/SR_KeyHighLights/LS_2004/Vol_I_LS_2004.pdf |title=Statistical Report on General Elections, 2004 to the 14th Lok Sabha|publisher=Election Commission of India}}</ref> and the [[2006 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election]],<ref name="IndiaToday" /><ref>{{cite news |date=14 May 2004 |title=Why did the NDA lose West Bengal? |website=Rediff |agency=PTI |url=https://www.rediff.com/election/2004/may/14mamata.htm|access-date=28 December 2020}}</ref> and subsequently left the NDA.