The results of the Birmingham City Council elections could be challenged within weeks, a party leader revealed last night. Liberal Democrat supremo Coun John Hemming claimed his group might have lost up to 15 seats because of alleged widespread postal voting fraud. And he told the Sunday Mercury that a lawsuit against the outcome of polls would be launched in at least six wards. Coun Hemming was speaking after an election campaign plagued with controversy and allegations of mass vote-rigging. Postmen carrying sacks of blank postal votes claimed they had been offered more than £500 for them by party workers, while in Bordesley Green 200 campaigners clashed in a near riot. Last week, Labour's newlyelected councillor for Aston, Mohammed Kazi, was found in a deserted city car park with bundles of completed ballot papers in his car. He was later cleared of any illegal act by West Midlands Police, who are already conducting an inquiry into alleged incidents of electoral fraud. "The sheer scale of complaints means something is going badly wrong," Coun Hemming said last night. "My party may have lost up to 15 seats because of postal voting fraud. People are saying that Labour have done well in Birmingham and this city has bucked the national trend. "But in reality the political system has been tarnished and candidates have lost out because of it. "Several of my councillors and candidates are unhappy and feel cheated. Some have come to me and asked why we are even both-ering to play fair. "I have had to tell them that someone has to make a stand. So a legal challenge will be started, funded by people within the community. "We will be looking at challenges in Bordesley Green, Nechells, Soho, Hodge Hill, Aston and possibly Ladywood once I have had a proper look at the figures. He added: "It is a serious problem because people have lost confidence in the system and democracy is ultimately losing out. "Changes need to be made and voters need to be protected when they are filling out their ballot papers. "There needs to be a system where identification has to be produced." The controversy surrounding postal votes cast at last week's so-called 'Super Thursday' elections is nothing new. Just two years ago an inquiry looked into how hundreds of votes were allegedly cast in the names of people who were either abroad, dead or in prison. Coun Hemming spearheaded the action, which finally faltered when it was rejected by the High Court in London due to a legal technicality. Then, the allegations centred on the wards of Aston, Nechells, Small Heath, Sparkhill and Washwood Heath. | 
