Court told of 'election fraud'

Feb 22 2005

by Paul Dale, Chief reporter

Three Labour Birmingham city councillors owed their election to a campaign of widespread corruption and illegal conduct in which as many as 3,000 postal votes were fraudulently completed, the High Court was told. The Bordesley Green councillors and their agents were responsible for forging and physically altering ballot papers, including the use of correcting fluid to re-write votes in favour of Labour, it was claimed in an election petition. The petition was raised by supporters of the Kashmiri-led People's Justice Party, who say their candidates would have won in Bordesley Green in 2004 if fraudulent votes had been disallowed. The three Labour councillors – Shafaq Ahmed, Shah Jahan and Ayaz Khan – submitted signed statements to the court denying any wrongdoing. See today's Birmingham Post for more