Council chiefs have been granted a court order to mount an urgent investigation into postal votes in a key marginal seat.
The probe was mounted in
Aberdeen South, where Labour are defending a notional majority of less than 4,000 over the Liberal Democrats.
Deputy returning officer Crawford Langley went to Aberdeen Sheriff Court to seek an order enabling him to mount a probe, officials said.
"He had concerns about a number of allegations received that people had not received their postal votes," said a council spokesman.
"Accordingly he decided to seek an order from the sheriff enabling him to establish whether there may or may not have been irregularities."
The order was granted and that investigation was now under way, said the council.
Mr Langley would be in a position later to decide if there were irregularities and if the police should be called in, the spokesperson said.
The move is believed to have been prompted by 10 people turning up at polling stations to be told records showed they were postal voters.
The 10 are thought to have told poll officials that while they had applied for postal votes, they have not received them.
© Copyright
Press Association Ltd 2005, All Rights Reserved
