The Bengal Story Bureau: In a significant escalation of the ongoing internal rift within the Trinamool Congress (TMC), party spokesperson and Beleghata MLA Kunal Ghosh warned that legislators who have signed support resolutions for two opposing factions have fallen into a severe legal trap. Addressing a press conference from the Kalighat camp, Ghosh emphasized that dual signatures on contradictory official documents could invite statutory prosecution and anti-defection challenges in the West Bengal Assembly.
The controversy centers around a bitter leadership tussle regarding the nomination of the Leader of the Opposition. While the establishment camp at Kalighat proposed veteran leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay for the post, a powerful rebel faction led by recently expelled MLA Ritabrata Banerjee submitted an alternative proposal bearing the signatures of 58 legislators to secure the designation.
Severe Discrepancies and Forgery Probes
The development follows a multi-pronged investigation by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the West Bengal Police into alleged signature manipulation and forgery within the legislative party documents. The crisis unfolded after two MLAs, Sandipan Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee, were summarily expelled by the party leadership immediately after alleging that their signatures had been forged on an official resolution submitted by TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee.
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The political alignment shifted rapidly when the rebel faction counter-submitted a separate proposal backed by 58 MLAs, leading to a direct stand-off over structural legitimacy.
“Several individuals have signed in both places, and they are now legally trapped,” Ghosh told reporters during the media briefing. He claimed that a vast majority of the legislators currently residing in the rebel camp are holding their positions under extreme political duress and fear.
Ghosh added that between 90 to 95 per cent of the dissident MLAs are reaching out to the party core team over the phone, communicating their deep emotional distress and absolute reluctance to remain associated with the breakaway camp. He urged them to reconsider their political futures and assess whether they want to lead their public lives with dignity.
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Institutional Scrutiny and Assembly Interventions
The administrative friction intensified as CID investigators visited the West Bengal Assembly Secretariat to seize and analyze official records, resolution registers, and the contested signature rosters. High-profile party figures, including Abhishek Banerjee, have faced intense rounds of interrogation at the state police headquarters regarding the whereabouts of the initial legislative party resolutions.
Legal experts note that cross-signing contradictory resolutions submitted to the Speaker of the House constitutes a structural violation of legislative discipline. It can trigger immediate judicial scrutiny under criminal forgery sections and the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution, which regulates political defection in India.
What happens next
The Speaker’s Secretariat is currently examining the authenticity of both sets of documents and the overlapping signatures before deciding on the official recognition of the Leader of the Opposition. Meanwhile, the legal department of the Trinamool Congress is preparing formal statutory petitions against specific dual-signing legislators. These filings are expected to be placed before the appropriate judicial and assembly forums sequentially over the coming weeks as the police investigation yields conclusive handwriting analysis reports.
