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The re-run of the Tower Hamlets mayoral election has been plunged into controversy after it emerged that police are investigating possible campaign irregularities.

Officers are probing the campaign of councillor Rabina Khan, the candidate backed by disgraced former mayor Lutfur Rahman, after election leaflets featuring her were reportedly distributed tucked inside a Tower Hamlets Homes information document. Ms Khan denies any wrongdoing.

Pictures have emerged of a man seemingly acting for the council’s arm’s-length housing body appearing to put the leaflets through doors on the Green Bank estate in Wapping.

Blogger Mark Baynes says he filmed the man in action, and also spoke to a resident at a block of flats in Limehouse who alleged that members of Ms Khan’s canvassing team lied to gain access to the building to distribute election leaflets.

Three men allegedly told security at Silver Wharf they were “working for Tower Hamlets in a normal political capacity” and should be allowed in.

Police confirmed that officers from the Special Enquiry Team are investigating allegations of wrongdoing concerning the distribution of leaflets on the Green Bank estate and in the Limehouse Cut area which could be a possible breach of election law.

A force spokesman added: “No arrests have been made.”

Ms Khan, who is cabinet member for housing and development on Tower Hamlets council, claimed she was being framed. She said of the man filmed by Mr Baynes: “We don’t know who this person is. He is no relation to us and it is nothing to do with us.”

She added that she had no idea how the men managed to get election leaflets to distribute, and said her team had also contacted police over the issue.

Tower Hamlets Homes said it had not authorised the distribution of its newsletter with any other materials, and said the man pictured was not a member of its staff. A spokesman said it was “investigating this matter urgently”.

The mayoral election was ordered by a judge in the High Court who threw incumbent Rahman out of office after finding him guilty of corrupt and illegal practices, and also finding corruption and illegality surrounding the election of his supporters to the council.

Ms Khan is from Rahman’s Tower Hamlets First party, which is no longer recognised by the Electoral Commission, so she is standing as an independent. She is one of 17 of the party’s councillors who face calls to resign following the High Court judgment. As they were not named on the petition brought before the judge, he had no power to remove them. But former secretary of state for communities and local government Eric Pickles said if they did not quit then criminal prosecutions should be “actively considered”.

A spokesman for the Met said it “takes allegations of electoral fraud or malpractice very seriously”, adding: “This is very complex legislation, and we continue to work closely with the CPS. Any allegations made to police will be investigated.”