A CONTROVERSIAL Midland MP was elected with the help of stolen votes, it was claimed last night. One of Khalid Mahmood's former election workers says he saw hundreds of postal ballots being forged by Labour canvassers and sent into the electoral office. The Birmingham Perry Barr MP won his seat in 2001 but his selection was dogged by accusations of vote-rigging. And he is facing new questions amid claims that public resources may have been diverted from community groups to help him get re-elected in May this year. Bill Mitchell, 58, a member of the Oscott Labour branch for 16 years, said: "I helped with Khalid's election campaign in 2001. I worked hard to get him elected. "During the campaign I delivered leaflets, went round with a loudspeaker, put up posters and ran errands for the campaign team which had two offices on Birchfield Road - a proper one and a much smaller one. "On one occasion during the campaign, I went down to the main office with a councillor and saw several election workers filling in postal ballots. "There were hundreds of them. They were signed and sealed, then given to myself and another person to take down to the election office on Great Charles Street. "I was a bit naive at the time and didn't appreciate what I'd seen or been involved in. "I worry that I might be getting myself into trouble now but myself and quite a few other local Labour members have lost faith in Khalid Mahmood recently." Mr Mitchell, a former MG Rover union shop steward, briefly quit the Labour Party last year but has applied to rejoin. He has attended party meetings while his application is being processed. "I became a bit disillusioned with Labour because of Khalid," he said. "I used to help his predecessor Jeff Rooker, now Lord Rooker. I never saw anything like that happen during his time as an MP." Mr Mahmood's links to several community groups facing corruption allegations, and attempts by him and his ex-girlfriend Elaina Cohen, to blame their break-up on local Labour members, have caused bitter divisions within the party. Oscott Branch membership secretary Peter Westley quit his post on Thursday night. Mr Westley, who has dedicated 33 years to supporting the party, said: "I resigned for two reasons. "The first was because Mr Mahmood's ex-girlfriend joined the branch using local councillor Barbara Dring's home address when Mrs Cohen lived elsewhere. "I don't agree with people using different addresses like that. You should fight your own corner and be prepared to live in the area you want to help." Current rules say that you cannot join a branch unless you live within the area it covers. "The second reason is that their attempts as a couple to try to blame their break-up on local members are unfair and wrong," said Mr Westley. "It's ridiculous to blame us." Mrs Cohen, who lives in a penthouse in Ladywood, Birmingham, refused to comment last night when asked if she had used Coun Dring's address to join the Oscott branch. Members have also discussed raising a motion of no confidence in their controversial MP. They are unhappy that just two branch meetings have been held in the last 12 months, and that there has been no constituency meeting in the last year. Last month, we revealed how one publicly-funded organisation had allegedly used its resources to help back Mr Mahmood's election campaign in May this year. Handsworth Recreation Group received more than £100,000 in taxpayers' money to help disadvantaged youngsters. But it has been claimed that some resources were diverted to help the MP get re-elected. Labour's ruling National Executive Committee finally endorsed Khalid Mahmood as a parliamentary candidate in 2001 after ordering a top-level probe into allegations of vote-rigging surrounding his election a month earlier. But opponents claimed large-scale fraud had taken place during the heated contest, centring on unusually high levels of postal votes. More than 200 party members signed a petition demanding a vote-rigging enquiry. Earlier this year, six inner city Labour councillors were sacked after being found guilty of taking part in a massive postal fraud which a Judge said 'would disgrace a banana republic'. Mr Mahmood issued strict guidelines to campaign staff not to touch postal votes or applications during this year's General Election. A spokeswoman for the official election watchdog, the Electoral Commission, said: "There are currently two types of electoral offences. The first is when someone votes on behalf of someone else, whether the voter is aware or not. "The second is undue influence. A person is guilty of this if they directly or indirectly induce or compel any voter to vote or refrain from voting. "We have recently issued a code of conduct on postal voting and there is a new Bill going through parliament at the moment. "We strongly believe that political parties or their workers collecting postal ballots should not be involved in the application process." The Sunday Mercury repeatedly tried to contact Mr Mahmood about the allegations but he did not return our calls. Labour's regional spokeswoman, Caroline Badley, said: "I have made sure he has been made aware of the of the allegations but have been unable to discuss them with him. "This is the first time the West Midlands Labour Party has heard of such allegations about Khalid Mahmood's election. There were, however, allegations made about his selection." | 
