Monday night's votes to trigger a full selection process against Virendra Sharma, the Labour MP for Ealing Southall, have been declared "null and void" by the NEC, amid suggestions that some who took part in the vote were not eligible.

Two branch meetings voted 30-3 and 74-32 to trigger a reselection process on Monday evening. Yesterday, however, the NEC representative and Regional Director for the area ruled "that we need to suspend the entire process and rerun it with regional office supervision." They told relevant parties via email that:"This means the results of the two branch meetings last night are null and void."

Sources tell the New Statesman that some people were admitted to the branch meetings even though they are not thought to have been eligible to vote.

The branch meetings in question were the first two of seven due to take place in Sharma's constituency. If the trend had continued, it would have seen him become the third Labour MP to undergo a full reselection process, along with Diana Johnson and Dame Margaret Hodge.