Kolkata, Oct 15 The TMC’s Mamata Banerjee-led faction on Thursday wrote to senior West Bengal government and police officials alleging the use of the police to obtain affidavits in favour of the dissident group and “illegal and arbitrary directions” regarding the issuance and distribution of stamp papers for filing affidavits before the EC.
The allegations came amid a dispute before the Election Commission over the party’s identity, funds and symbol following a split in the TMC in the aftermath of the assembly polls.
The EC, according to TMC national joint secretary Dola Sen, has asked both factions of the party to submit affidavits from supporters and additional documents as part of its proceedings by the October 26 deadline.
In the letters, Sen alleged that police personnel across the state had been directed to collect “dummy affidavits” from non-TMC members to bolster the rival faction’s claim to the Trinamool Congress name and its election symbol, ‘Jora Ghash Phool’ (twin flowers and grass).
Supporters of the Mamata-led faction were facing difficulties obtaining stamp papers to prepare their own affidavits, the Rajya Sabha MP claimed.
Sen alleged that the rival faction had no genuine support base, claiming that the entire party support remained with its chairperson, Mamata Banerjee.
“Accordingly, the OCs and ICs of police stations are using force and influence to get signatures on affidavits in favour of the traitor group led by Ritabrata Banerjee and Arup Roy in a completely illegal manner,” she wrote in her letter to the Bengal Director General of Police and the Kolkata Police Commissioner.
Alleging a coordinated operation to manufacture support for the rival faction, the letter claimed that police stations across Bengal had been instructed to collect over 1,100 affidavits each from purported supporters.
With 607 police stations in the state, the alleged exercise could involve at least six lakh affidavits, the Mamata-TMC faction claimed.
Sen further alleged that notaries had been arranged at police stations to authenticate the affidavits and that police officers were using their position and influence to secure signatures from non-members of the TMC.
“The highest Constitutional offices of the double engine governments are orchestrating this conspiracy through police personnel to secure these affidavits forcibly,” she alleged, accusing the BJP-led government of both the Centre and the state of attempting to influence the outcome of the dispute before the poll panel.
In a separate letter addressed to the state chief secretary, the Inspector General of Registration and Commissioner of Stamp Revenue, and other relevant officials, Sen alleged that district magistrates had issued “arbitrary and unwritten directions” to stamp vendors to supply large quantities of stamp papers to police authorities.
According to the letter, vendors had been directed to make available approximately 25,000 stamp papers of Rs 10 denomination at every sub-registry office and hand them over to the local officer-in-charge of the police station concerned.
Stamp papers of Rs 20 denomination were also allegedly to be supplied, if required, without entries in the relevant registers, she claimed.
“This is clearly fraudulent and illegal. It is being done with a view to aid the Trinamool Congress group led by Ritabrata Banerjee in its claim over the party symbol. You are hereby requested to stop these illegal activities, failing which you shall face all legal consequences,” Sen wrote.
The Mamata-led faction further alleged that the bulk procurement of stamp papers by the police had created an artificial shortage across the state, leaving genuine TMC workers struggling to obtain the papers required to prepare their own affidavits.
In the letter to police officials, Sen referred to the Supreme Court’s September 28 order directing the ECI to decide the rival claims within three months and allowing the parties four weeks from that date to submit affidavits and additional documents.
“You are duty-bound to protect the constitutional rights of every political worker,” she wrote, asking officials not to act on the alleged directions of the state government or its functionaries.
There was no immediate response from the BJP, the state police or the rival TMC faction to the charges.
(PTI News)
