Surprise, surprise there is postal vote fraud again.
Scotland Yard has launched criminal investigations into four allegations of bogus voter registration. Bundles of fictitious names have been put on the electoral roll in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in what looks like a blatant attempt to steal the elections.
It will raise concern in an area notorious for election fraud and where a last-minute flood of applications to vote mean that more than 5,000 have been accepted without any checks â enough to sway Thursdayâs results.
The council tried to clean up the register. Officials visited any home with nine or more voters and removed 141 names from the roll. But a surge of 5,166 new registrations were received just before the deadline of April 20 and there was no time to check them. Alarm bells rang when parties were given lists of postal voters to help with electioneering.
At an address in Bethnal Green Road consisting of a ground-floor shop and an upstairs maisonette, eight Bengalis claimed a postal vote. However, when The Times called there this week there was only one occupant, Inge Reekmans a Belgian photographer. âYouâre kidding,â she said when told about the registrations. Showing The Times around her home, the only other occupant was her cat Kiki. âYou can see, there are no Bengalis,â she said.
In Goldman Close, there were 10 Bengali names for a house where Stephane Leyvraz, a Frenchman, lives with two Europeans. When The Times visited, there was no sign of âTanzir Alamâ, âNurul Amanâ or the others. A man came for the ballot papers on Monday.
Across Tower Hamlets in Bromley-by-Bow, 18 people apparently requested postal votes in a four-bedroom house where Ali Saleem, a Pakistani student, lives with four companions. Does he vote? âNot even in my own country,â he said. âI donât like to vote.â
The Electoral Commissionâs Code of Conduct for postal voting forbids campaigners from soliciting ballot papers. But Mahmodul Hasam Talukdar was asked for his by a party supporter. âHe said âVote for us and I will take it back to the post officeâ,â Mr Talukdar, 23, a student from Bangladesh, said. âWhy should I? Itâs my vote
It will raise concern in an area notorious for election fraud and where a last-minute flood of applications to vote mean that more than 5,000 have been accepted without any checks â enough to sway Thursdayâs results.
The council tried to clean up the register. Officials visited any home with nine or more voters and removed 141 names from the roll. But a surge of 5,166 new registrations were received just before the deadline of April 20 and there was no time to check them. Alarm bells rang when parties were given lists of postal voters to help with electioneering.
At an address in Bethnal Green Road consisting of a ground-floor shop and an upstairs maisonette, eight Bengalis claimed a postal vote. However, when The Times called there this week there was only one occupant, Inge Reekmans a Belgian photographer. âYouâre kidding,â she said when told about the registrations. Showing The Times around her home, the only other occupant was her cat Kiki. âYou can see, there are no Bengalis,â she said.
In Goldman Close, there were 10 Bengali names for a house where Stephane Leyvraz, a Frenchman, lives with two Europeans. When The Times visited, there was no sign of âTanzir Alamâ, âNurul Amanâ or the others. A man came for the ballot papers on Monday.
Across Tower Hamlets in Bromley-by-Bow, 18 people apparently requested postal votes in a four-bedroom house where Ali Saleem, a Pakistani student, lives with four companions. Does he vote? âNot even in my own country,â he said. âI donât like to vote.â
The Electoral Commissionâs Code of Conduct for postal voting forbids campaigners from soliciting ballot papers. But Mahmodul Hasam Talukdar was asked for his by a party supporter. âHe said âVote for us and I will take it back to the post officeâ,â Mr Talukdar, 23, a student from Bangladesh, said. âWhy should I? Itâs my vote