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Dramatic new allegations of polling booth intimidation — including a voter being spat on — during the 2014 Tower Hamlets mayoral election are made in an amended High Court claim, the Standard can reveal today.

Tower Hamlets has been branded a “rotten borough” over claims of corruption and religious extremism. Communities Secretary Eric Pickles took direct control of the council last year.

A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers found public buildings had been sold to allies of the mayor, Lutfur Rahman, and thousands of pounds had been given as grants to ineligible bodies.

The Election Commissioner Richard Mawrey QC is also hearing a High Court claim brought by residents who want a rerun of the election on the grounds that Mr Rahman, an independent candidate, won through electoral fraud.

The trial will take place on February 2 but Mr Mawrey has taken the rare step of moving the hearing from Tower Hamlets town hall to the Royal Courts of Justice. He said the town hall cannot be regarded as a “neutral venue”.

The QC has allowed new claims to go forward to be heard in the case which relate to the Rahman administration’s alleged use of illegal practices as a means of gaining votes. These include:

Allegations of intimidation outside nine polling stations including a claim that a canvasser for Mr Rahman spat in the face of a Labour supporter.

Claims by three witnesses that people admitted being paid to canvass by Councillor Alibor Choudhary, Mr Rahman’s election agent.

Interference with voters, mostly women and older people, at 14 polling stations by people standing over them as they voted, which electoral officers allegedly did nothing to stop.

Allegations that Mr Rahman used £954,000, already identified by the PwC report as a “slush fund”, to pay lunch clubs, directed particularly at his main supporters the Bangladeshi community, in key wards.

All these alleged practices are illegal under the Representation of the People Act and could lead to the election being declare void and those found guilty being barred from office. The writ also claims that spiritual influence was brought to bear, which could also be deemed corrupt under the Act.

Mr Rahman is said to have spoken at an event at The Waterlily last May where local imam Mawlana Shamsul Haque is claimed to have urged those attending “to retain truth, righteousness and practise religious belief” by voting for him. He is said to have prayed for Mr Rahman’s victory at a wedding at the same venue a week later.

After the PwC report Mr Pickles dispatched three commissioners to oversee spending in the borough. He told the Commons that Mr Rahman had dispensed public money like a “medieval monarch” and oversaw an administration that was “at best dysfunctional, at worst riddled with corruption”.

Mr Rahman accepted that the PwC report had highlighted “regrettable” flaws in processes.

Mr Mawrey wrote in his judgment that the conduct of some of Mr Rahman’s town hall staff “is said to have gone well beyond what is permissible in the case of local civil servants”.

The QC said that the building could not “realistically be regarded as a neutral venue” and added that the allegations of “widespread voter intimidation at the polls cannot be ignored”.

Mr Rahman said:‬‬ ‪‪"I completely reject the unsubstantiated allegations of voter intimidation outside polling stations and the use of public funds for political gain.‬

"‪The Electoral Commission and police have already investigated and dropped election complaints, and the recent PwC audit found no bias in the distribution of funding.

"These are not new claims, but cynical political attacks which are manifestly untrue.

"I look forward to being able to prove as such at the election hearing."

Tower Hamlets returning officer John Williams said: “The commissioner has decided that the election court hearing will be held in the Royal Court of Justice from February 2.

“Although the initial High Court hearing in 2014 rejected the petitioners’ application that the court should not, as would normally be the case, be held within the borough, the commissioner has taken a different view.

“I respect his judgment on the matter and the court is assured of my full support and cooperation throughout the process.”