Official complaint about voting box

Tory election agent Jam-shad Khan, who has submitted the complaint to Ian Stewart, Bradford Council's chief executive, claimed an elastic band inside the box which held the voting papers had also been removed.

Mr Stewart said after the election on May 1 that the seal had broken in transit and been replaced, with an observer present.

Today deputy returning officer Philip Robinson said: "I can confirm the chief executive has received an official complaint from Mr Khan."

Mr Khan was agent in the Little Horton ward for Tory candidate Khadam Hussain, who was beaten by sitting Labour councillor Ian Greenwood by 178 votes.

Mr Khan said he and three other observers had attended the opening of the postal ballot papers at the Hilton Hotel, Bradford, on April 30.

"An elastic band was put round them and they were then put into a black box and secured by two seals," he said.

"We noted the seal numbers for security. We saw the postal votes being taken away and quarantined.

"The total number of postal votes counted was 1,410."

He said he checked the seals with his colleagues at the count and found that one was different.

"We then alerted the Council and were told the seal had been broken through transportation and a new seal had been put on," he said.

"This was unacceptable to us as we had not been given any prior warning of this incident. We were told that the count would be done as normal.

"This was an ultimate breach of security. We could not accept the count to continue as normal without a full transparent explanation and documented proof of the incident in front of us."

He said his suspicions deepened when he noticed the elastic bands round the ballot papers had been removed.

Mr Khan was also involved in a legal row about postal votes when he stood in Little Horton as a Tory candidate last year.

He was given leave for a recount by a High Court judge but lost his case when the result stood and Labour's Taj Salam remained a councillor.