A Ukip parliamentary candidate and his branch chairman have resigned after claiming the local party is being infiltrated by what they see as "occultists".

Jake Baynes, who was to run in the Somerset city of Wells at next year's general election, said he felt he was being driven out by local members, including a couple based in nearby Glastonbury who practise alternative healing, which they claim is inspired and guided by angels.

Baynes, a teacher who stood at the last general election for Ukip, said: "I do think if someone is saying you are in touch with the angelic realms I have to call into question their judgment.

"Everyone's got their different beliefs. It's not for me to belittle anyone's beliefs. People have different views. But if Ukip is trying to shake off this fruitcake image thing, we're not doing a good job of it."

Graham Livings, who resigned as Ukip's Wells constituency branch chairman, said: "We've been infiltrated by the Glastonbury occult. I've heard a lot of people say locally they won't be voting for Ukip because of this. It needs to be addressed. Jake was an excellent candidate. I'm standing down in solidarity."

The couple Baynes and Livings were concerned about are Colleen and Glen Tucker, who are both masters in angelic reiki – described on their national association's website as a "profound system of healing and consciousness expansion".

Colleen Tucker, who is county treasurer for Ukip, describes herself as an "angelic reiki master, soul midwife and shaman" and says she works with the Archangel Michael. She is based at the Angelic Guidance and Healing Centre in Glastonbury.

Glen Tucker, a prominent Ukip member, runs master level angelic reiki workshops.

Both said they were pleased Baynes and Livings had resigned because they felt both had lost the confidence of the local association. But they dismissed as "ludicrous" the claims that they were involved in the occult.

After the pair resigned and gave their reasons, Colleen Tucker said she had gone away to look up the meaning of occult.

"It means that which is hidden," she said. "Nothing I do is hidden, nothing Glen does is hidden. It's all in the public domain. I have a website, Glen is very active on Facebook. There's nothing occult in what we do.

"I do call in archangels at times and in some of the meditations I do bring in archangels. Angels appear in all the major religions of the world."

Correspondence between Baynes and the Ukip national leadership shows the concern about so-called occultism is one of a series of problems that have arisen within the party. There has also been tension over an insulting letter Baynes wrote to a local paper about Liberal Democrat Sir Graham Watson when he lost his seat at the European parliament earlier this year.

Glen Tucker said Baynes and Livings were confused. He said: "They obviously don't understand what Colleen and I do. They have some weird idea of what the occult involves. I think it's a way of ignoring the reality. They could have just resigned and accepted they don't have the support of the committee and the membership. They could have done it with grace."

Ukip will now have to find a new candidate. Baynes won 1,711 votes in 2010 – and may have helped the Liberal Democrat Tessa Munt win the Somerset seat, which she took with a majority of just 800 over Conservative David Heathcoat-Amory.