text: George Galloway has accused the Labour candidate running against him in the Bradford West constituency of lying about being forced to marry when she was 15 years old. Naz Shah, a mother-of-three from Bradford, has previously claimed that she was coerced into marrying her cousin in Pakistan before being sexually and physically abused. However, Mr Galloway's Respect Party now claims to have obtained a copy of her 'nikah', or marriage certificate, showing that she actually married when she was 16 and a half in 1990. Naz Shah, the Labor party candidate standing against George Galloway in Bradford West, has previously told how she was forced into marriage age 15 - but Mr Galloway's party claims to have evidence this is untrue . At a hustings on Wednesday night (pictured) Mr Galloway produced a nikah, or Pakistani marriage certificate, which he claims shows that Ms Shah was in fact married in 1990, when she was 16 and a half . At a hustings in Bradford on Wednesday night, Mr Galloway, who is defending a 10,000-vote majority, produced the document, saying Ms Shah has 'only a passing acquaintance with the truth.' To applause, he also accused her of playing into negative stereotypes about Pakistan, and accused her of slandering the British Pakistani community. But Ms Shah has now hit back, saying there are two copies of her Nikah. One dated 1990, which Mr Galloway has, and another earlier version dated 1988, which has been supplied to MailOnline. A spokesman for the Labour Party said that Ms Shah was forced into marriage aged 15, but that her husband wanted to come to the UK on a spouse visa. Because the British authorities do not recognise marriages to people under the age of 16, a second document was drawn up and dated 1990. They say this is the document Mr Galloway's party has. A Labour spokesman said: 'George Galloway is an absentee MP who has failed to stand up for, and has nothing positive to offer to, the people of Bradford West. 'He is instead resorting to desperate untruths about Labour’s candidate. We have written to him to warn him that we believe his conduct to be a breach of election law. 'While George Galloway spends his time seeking to divide our community, Naz Shah and Labour will continue to show people that she will be a strong voice for Bradford West.' Labour also accused Mr Galloway of obtaining the nikah by sending a man to the registry office in Mirpur posing as Ms Shah's father, who died several years ago. A Respect Party spokesman responded, saying the allegations were 'totally and utterly untrue', insisting that their contact had simply requested the certificate and paid a five rupee sum before it was handed over. Speaking to MailOnline, he said: 'We were given a copy of the nikah by a close family member in this country so we decided to check whether this was genuine. However, Labour have said there are two copies of the nikah, the original being dated in 1988, when Ms Shah would have been 15, which they are in possession of. They say the second was drawn up when Ms Shah's husband tried to get a spouse visa to the UK, where marriages to those under 16 are not recognised . The Labour party said they have been in touch with the election watchdog about Mr Galloway's comments, claiming they breach guidelines and warning him not to repeat them . 'We got a third party to go to the registry office in Mirpur, where he retrieved the original nikah showing the marriage was in 1990. 'There was no subterfuge, he paid five rupees and he was given the certificate.' Speaking to the Guardian, the party said the nikah dated 1990 revealed that Ms Shah's mother and family members attended, claiming that this shows the ceremony was not forced. On the subject of a second nikah dated 1988, he said the party was waiting for it to be produced so it could be independently verified. The spokesman also claimed that it was not possible for two copies of the nikah to exist without the couple first being divorced, and said Labour had yet to produce proof of a separation. The Labour party told MailOnline that they had already given the document, which is written in urdu, to three independent translators who had all confirmed it was genuine. Labour also said the party had complained to the election watchdog about Mr Galloway's behaviour, saying he had made false statements about Ms Shah, and warned for him not to repeat them. Ms Shah first went public with the story of her childhood early last month, just days after being selected as Labour's candidate in Bradford West. In an open letter, she described growing up in Bradford in extreme poverty and becoming homeless aged six after her father left his family destitute when he eloped with a 16-year-old neighbour. She said was forced to be a parent to her two sisters after her mother, who had suffered years of abuse at the hands of a local drug dealer, was jailed for his murder after she poisoned him. She said she became a political campaigner while fighting for her mother's release from prison, which came in 2000 after 14 years behind bars. After Ms Shah's mother was jailed she became estranged from the rest of the family, but travelled to Pakistan in the late 80s to see them. It was then that she claims she was forced into marrying her cousin, saying she only agreed after being coerced by other family members. According to her account, she escaped that relationship in 1992 before going back to college in Britain.
target: Naz Shah claimed to have been forced into abusive marriage aged 15 .
  But Mr Galloway says he has marriage certificate showing she was 16 .
  Accused her of playing into stereotypes and demonizing Pakistanis .
  Labour hit back, saying there are two marriage certificates, and they have the original from 1988 showing Ms Shah was in fact 15 .
  Party say they wrote to election watchdog over Mr Galloway's allegation .