Tower Hamlets poll count inadequate: UK EC

The Electoral Commission in the UK has found that the mayoral, local and European elections in May in Tower Hamlets in London, which has a large Bangladeshi population, were poorly resourced.

The east London borough's election count took more than five days to complete and is facing a High Court challenge.

British-Bangladeshi Mayor Lutfur Rahman of the Tower Hamlets First party retained his seat in that poll.

Tower Hamlets has been the scene of fractious election disputes since Rahman swept to power in 2010 and formed a cabinet made up entirely of Bangladeshi Muslims.

The EC probe was opened after local Conservative and Labour politicians claimed to have witnessed heavy-handed tactics and intimidation at polling stations in the borough.

The EC has ordered that all election officials and agents only speak English in future to prevent suspicion of wrongdoing.

In a report, EC said it found that Tower Hamlets' poll count was inadequately resourced and poorly organised.

It suggested that the election agent John Williams should publish a plan for next year's general election before December.

The EC report described gatherings by Rahman’s supporters in their hundreds, and disorder among counters, agents and observers during the polls.

However, it did not address many of the serious allegations because of the pending High Court petition.

Peter Golds, a Conservative leader, said that in the past the EC has been warned many times about electoral irregularities at the borough but failed to do anything about it.

"In 2013, the commission earnestly published a report on the 2012 elections in which they made suggestions as to the improvement of elections in Tower Hamlets. If anything, 2014 was worse than 2012,” he said.

“Rather than merely hoping for improvements, action needs to be taken," he added.

Luftur Rahman (File Photo)

Another inquiry by the UK Secretary of State for Local Government Eric Pickles is examining allegations that Lutfur's administration has sought to gain votes with favourable grants to Bangladeshi and Somali-led organisations, waved through property deals without guaranteeing value for money and used council funds improperly to enable self-promotion.

Earlier in June a petition the Red Flag Anti-Corruption Party moved the UK High Court for the mayoral election in Tower Hamlets to be held again.

The group accused Mayor Lutfur Rahman's party of electoral fraud, corruption and political smears. In the petition it claimed that groups of people had been paid to stand outside polling stations and convince voters to back the mayor.

The mayor has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

Many local Bangladeshis in Tower Hamlets allege that Lutfur has close ties with radical Islamist elements. They say Lutfur is backed by several London-based Jamaat-e-Islami leaders who are protecting convicted war criminals like Chowdhury Mueen Uddin.

After the polls, the award-winning BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan did an exposé on Lutfur in which he pointed out thirty facts about his extremist ties.