Bradford's politicians today demanded strict checks on a record 30,000 claims for postal votes for the May elections to prevent wide-scale fraud.

Senior councillors fear the unprecedented demand for the right to vote by post may contain fake applications and even the possibility of electors trying to use the "votes" of dead people.

Bradford's demand for postal votes far outweighs similar sized councils elsewhere in the country and is massively higher than the 19,000 applications at last year's General Election.

Last year West Yorkshire Police spent several months investigating claims of postal vote fraud during the election but dropped the probe after being unable to find any significant evidence.

But today Council leader Margaret Eaton said although she was pleased more people were taking part in the election, every vote cast by post must be checked to ensure it was genuine.

Labour Group leader Coun Ian Greenwood agreed, and felt more could have been done in the General Election. "There were allegations of abuse last year which I feel were not dealt with properly by the Council and police," he said.

Liberal Democrat group leader Councillor Jeanette Sunderland said: "Clearly we will be expecting the elections office to take a lot of measures to prevent fraud."

Today Ian Stewart, Council Chief Executive and returning officer for the May local election, pledged every effort would be taken to check out the votes. New security measures had been brought in. "The Government wants people to use postal votes, they are entitled to them and I will be making sure the process is as safe as it possibly can be," he said.

But one senior councillor, who asked not to be named, said there had been allegations in the past that dead people's "votes" were being sought by others trying to swing a result one way.

Other allegations surrounded votes being bought and people being pressurised to vote for one party only.

The huge number of people applying for postal votes in Bradford compares with just 16,000 in Birmingham, which has more than twice the voters.

Both authorities say they are receiving more applications daily to meet the deadline of April 23.

They have each used a new system of sending postal voting application forms to electors and giving them the chance to use them.

In the past people have rung up for them or gone to Council offices. And it is now no longer necessary for electors wanting ordinary postal votes to get their identities verified by independent people, including doctors.

A Bradford Council elections spokesman said letters were being sent back to everyone applying for a postal vote to verify the details.

She said all applications were automatically checked against the electoral roll and most of those received so far had been verified.