NEW DELHI: Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress on Sunday submitted affidavits and other documents to the Election Commission as part of the ongoing dispute over control of the party.Speaking to reporters after submitting the documents, TMC MP Kalyan Banerjee accused the rival faction of using police intimidation in West Bengal to procure forged affidavits for submission to the Election Commission.He alleged that police officers had forced party leaders, office-bearers and grassroots workers to sign affidavits backing the rival group, claiming that several signatures had also been forged.Kalyan Banerjee said his faction had submitted all its pleadings and affidavits in compliance with the Supreme Court’s directions, providing both hard and soft copies to the poll panel.“We have original affidavits. We have no fear. They have forged affidavits. So they have not given it out of fear,” he said.“Every police station’s officer forced people to sign the affidavits, and in many affidavits, the signatures are forged,” he alleged.Questioning why the rival faction had not shared copies of its affidavits with his side, Banerjee said the Election Commission could not take cognisance of documents that had not been disclosed to them.He said his faction would also send soft copies of all the affidavits it had submitted to the Ritabrata-led group.“Whenever the affidavits are disclosed, we will prosecute them. We will put Mr Ritabrata Banerjee in jail,” he said.Banerjee said his faction had submitted affidavits from 17 MPs, 32 MLAs in West Bengal, five MLAs in Meghalaya and one MLA in Assam, apart from more than two lakh affidavits from grassroots-level workers.
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He also challenged the rival faction to demonstrate its support among legislators, questioning Ritabrata Banerjee’s claim that he had the backing of 65 MLAs.The poll panel is examining the dispute under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968, which empowers it to adjudicate claims by rival factions of a recognised political party.The dispute began after a rival faction led by Ritabrata Banerjee staked its claim to the party’s organisational control, election symbol and funds.