Exclusive: Lib Dem winner faces postal votes probeBy Ryan Parry
A councillor who romped to victory last week is at the centre of an illegal votes scandal.
Lib Dem Ayoub Khan boasted of his "clean and ethical" campaign in Aston, Birmingham.
But some postal votes broke electoral law and Electoral Commission rules designed to stop ballot rigging.
After winning his council seat with a bigger majority and surrounded by jubilant supporters, Ayoub Khan punched the air in joy and boasted he ran a "clean and ethical" campaign.
But the Liberal Democrat received a string of illegal votes from residents of a rundown inner city hostel.
Some told the Daily Mirror they were pushed into voting for him against their will - a breach of electoral law and Electoral Commission rules designed to stop ballot rigging.
Cllr Khan, 35 today, slammed the allegations last night as a "smear".
There is no clear evidence that he was involved in the scandal but serious questions will be asked of his campaign team.
There is also no suggestion he broke the law himself as Electoral Commission guidance is advisory, not mandatory.
But the Commission said voting fraud is a crime and the matter should be reported to police.
Cllr Khan, a Birmingham city council cabinet member, won in Aston ward. He had entered 200 postal vote registration forms 15 minutes before the April deadline.
While this is not illegal, handing forms over in bulk goes against the Commission code of conduct. A handful came from the Sixways hostel for jobless men in Aston.
Residents were registered to vote by manager Mohammad Afzal and presented with filled-in postal vote forms and told to sign them.
Others claimed Mr Afzal, 30, prompted them to sign ballot forms and vote for him when they had no intention of doing so. Ian Middleton, 21, said: "The manager brought out these voting forms ... I could see my name on it and he said 'Sign this'.
"He's the gaffer so I wasn't gonna question him. I said, 'I was gonna vote BNP' but he said 'Just sign it' so I did."
Alex Hayden, 26, said: "I voted for Lib Dems" and Mr Afzal asked him to sign a postal vote form. He said: "It's one of them, innit - if the gaffer asks, you've gotta do it."
Mr Afzal said: "I handled it for some residents but there was no inappropriate voting. I said, 'One of my friends is standing for the vote, it would be nice if you could help him.'
"Yes I requested them to vote. I didn't ask just anyone, I asked my residents."
Asked who he delivered the votes to in Cllr Khan's campaign he said: "I rang somebody ... er - and they sent somebody to pick up the forms from me. I don't remember, I can't put the name to the face."
Electoral Commission rules state that "an individual may not exert or attempt to exert undue influence to persuade or force someone to vote, not vote or vote a certain way.
"Someone who perverts or deters a voter from freely exercising their right to vote or attempts to do so may be guilty of undue influence."
Cllr Khan said: "If there is anything fraudulent about these votes then I have no doubt it is a Labour party smear.
"I made it absolutely 100 per cent clear to my team that they must not touch ballot papers."
The Electoral Commission said: "We can't comment on specifc cases but we work closely with the police, prosecuting authorities and electoral administrators to tackle electoral fraud."
Mirror
