Residents of London borough allege Lutfur Rahman and his workers filled out other people’s ballot papers and smeared his opponents as racist

Britain’s first directly elected Muslim mayor orchestrated an electoral fraud across the London borough of Tower Hamlets using intimidation and corruption, it was alleged on Monday as four local residents challenged the result of last May’s election.

Lutfur Rahman won using illegal practices either directly or through his agents, the opening of a rare election fraud trial at the high court was told. Francis Hoar, for the residents, said Rahman and his supporters had a long history of fraud and intimidation, used to achieve and hold on to power.



“They don’t give a damn about the law and they don’t give a damn about due process, because they have done it before and got away with it,” he said.

The petitioners want the result of the May 2014 poll, which saw independent Rahman elected for a second term with a majority of more than 3,000, declared void and rerun.

The case being heard by election commissioner Richard Mawrey QC – a senior lawyer sitting as a judge – could have repercussions for May’s general election in the east end of London, where a number of Labour MPs expect to face challenges from independent candidates associated with Rahman.

Hoar claimed that directly or through people working for him, Rahman had filled out and tampered with ballot papers, smeared his Labour opponent as a racist, paid canvassers and used intimidation and bribery. The petitioners claim Rahman has “a long history of abusing his power, inciting his supporters to intimidate his opponents, including through threats of violence, and corruptly funding organisations to promote him politically”, Hoar said.

In 2012, when he was a prominent Labour member, Rahman registered fake party members and voters, with “nine adult members of his family registered to vote” at his terrace house in Spitalfields.

Hoar said Rahman was accused of making false statements about the personal character of his main rival in last May’s election, the Labour candidate John Biggs, who is expected to give evidence on Tuesday. He also alleged “undue influence” by “means of spiritual influence” during the campaign and on polling day.

It was claimed that a Bengali newspaper, The Weekly Desh, published a letter signed by 101 Islamic leaders which was “intended to have undue influence on the Muslim population of the borough”, Hoar said. Their pronouncements had been used to cajole and control many within the local 65,000-strong Muslim community.

The court heard that one of the petitioners saw a voter crying outside a polling station after allegedly being told by a supporter of Rahman that it was “un-Islamic” not to vote for him, and that if you did not vote for him you were “not a good Muslim”. Bribes were also used to win over voters, the court heard, with meals given out on election day. Hoar said that there was evidence of “interference with voters” – including in polling booths.

The petitioners, Andrew Erlam, Debbie Simone, Azmal Husssein and Angela Moffat, claim that Rahman also directed council grants and property sales to his religious and political allies, with funding skewed towards Muslim organisations.

The case would have been heard in Tower Hamlets, but has been moved to central London after allegations that witnesses have been intimidated. Hoar said that his clients aimed to call almost 100 witnesses some of whom had “reported threats of violence”.

Many of the alleged practices are illegal under the Representation of the People Act and could lead to the election being declared void and those found guilty barred from office.

Duncan Penny QC, for the mayor, condemned the petition as “a rich and deliberate mixture of unfounded, exaggerated and in some cases downright deliberately false allegations” drawn up with the sole motivation of unseating a democratically elected mayor.

The petitioners will fail to demonstrate that Rahman had any control or knowledge of voting fraud, bribery or intimidation, said Penny. The mayor had repeatedly called for anyone making such allegations to take them to the police.

Before the hearing, the petitioners’ allegations of wrongdoing against John Williams, the returning officer, were withdrawn.

The hearing continues.