FOUR councillors who announced they had rejoined the Respect Party in March have still not registered the change with Bradford Council.

Questions are now being asked about why the councillors, who quit Respect in 2013 only to rejoin this year, have failed to file the paperwork stating they are once again representing the party.

The group, made up of Councillors Alyas Karmani, (Little Horton), Faisal Khan (Bradford Moor), Ishtiaq Ahmed (Manningham) and Ruqayyah Collector (City), are the fourth-largest group on the Council, but are still officially registered as the Bradford Independents, according to the authority.

This is the name they took after dramatically quitting George Galloway's party in 2013 after a bitter row with the former Bradford West MP.

But despite announcing to the press in March they had reconciled with the party and were back in the fold, they still have not notified Bradford Council.

Respect group leader Cllr Karmani was unavailable for comment, despite repeated attempts by the Telegraph & Argus to contact him.

But Cllr Khan said they just needed to submit "some basic paperwork" to register the change.

He said: "There is no news story. If you are thinking we are not Respect, we are Respect."

A spokesman for the authority said the group had given its name as the Bradford Independents at the Council's annual meeting, held on May 19.

She said after that, councillors could change groups at any time, but they had to fill in a form to do so.

She said: "They can't just say it and it is made official, because it affects the political balance.

"The political balance, whether it is a government or a council, is very important."

A fifth former Respect councillor, Councillor Mohammad Shabbir, joined Labour in April.

Councillor Simon Cooke, leader of the Council's Conservative group, said he was "prepared to believe it is bureaucratic incompetence on behalf of the Respect group", but said the uncertainty fuelled rumours about the group's intentions.

He added: "These four councillors need to spend 20 minutes filling in a form or deciding what they want to do. At the moment they are rather messing everybody around."

Liberal Democrat leader Councillor Jeanette Sunderland yesterday branded the councillors "disingenuous" and accused them of misleading the public.

She said: "They are members of a political party but do not wish to be recognised as a political group. That is completely disingenuous.

"It's about the level of seriousness, and serious intent, you would expect from these councillors. Where is it? There isn't any."

Councillor David Green, leader of the Labour-controlled Council, said: "It doesn't directly affect anything in terms of the composition of the Council, because whether they have constituted themselves as the Respect group or the Bradford Independent Group, they are still the same number so it doesn't affect anything."