The Progressive Conservatives are reviewing several questionable candidate nomination elections with an eye toward overturning contentious results, the Star has learned.

A senior party official said late Thursday they have “uncovered new information on some nominations.”

“This information will be handed over to the provincial nomination committee for them to make a decision on whether to reopen the nomination,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in order to discuss internal deliberations.

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The committee will meet Friday.

As previously reported in the Star, about a dozen PC candidate nominations across Ontario have been ended in controversy, including in Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, which is now the subject of a Hamilton Police investigation into allegations of criminal fraud and forgery.

In Ottawa West-Nepean, candidate Karma Macgregor won by 15 votes over runner-up Jeremy Roberts last May. There were 28 more ballots in boxes than had registered to vote.

The PC riding association executive later resigned en masse in protest as did party vice president Robert Elliott.

In Newmarket-Aurora, more than a dozen riding officials also quit after voting irregularities there last April in a nomination won by Charity McGrath Di Paolo.

The 14 local volunteers blamed “the blatant disregard for the democratic rights of the people of this riding to choose their local candidate in a fair, open and transparent process” in their letter of resignation.

The warned the same thing “is being allowed to openly occur across numerous other ridings.”

In Scarborough Centre last June, Toronto Police were called to restore order after activists erupted in anger amid allegations of ballot boxes being removed from the premises.

In Durham, regional councillor Joe Neal last summer threatened to challenge the party in court after his candidacy was disallowed because had run for the Liberals in 1985.

Patrick Brown, who resigned as leader on Jan. 25 after a sexual impropriety scandal involving teenage girls, later apologized to Neal for claiming he had fundraised for the Liberals in 2016.

Lindsey Park, a personal friend of Brown, won the Durham nomination from which Neal was disqualified.

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Since the ex-leader’s departure two weeks ago, the Tories have been cleaning house with an eye toward a fresh start for a new leader being elected March 10.

With an Ontario election set for June 7, they are in a frenzied dash to fix internal problems before facing voters.

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