Galloway alleges postal corruption in Tower Hamlets
Scotland Yard is probing allegations of electoral fraud in George Galloway’s Bethnal Green and Bow constituency.
Mr Galloway told the electoral review committee at City Hall yesterday that “thousands” of fraudulent postal votes were cast in Tower Hamlets at the general election.
“My suspicion is that there were many hundreds and perhaps in the low thousands of people on the register in Bethnal Green and Bow who should not be for one reason or other,” he said.
“It became clear to us during the course of the campaign that somebody was involved in a major operation to bloat the electoral register with non-existent electors as part of a dirty tricks operation. All of our original fears were not only vindicated but found to be merely the tip of the iceberg.”
The Respect MP claimed many “ghost” voters had been registered at bogus addresses, suggesting Labour had run a “major dirty tricks” campaign against him.
“The borough of Tower Hamlets runs its elections in a way that would disgrace a banana republic.”
The allegations have been passed to the Crown Prosecution Service, police said.
But, Michael Keith, leader of Tower Hamlets council, said that the allegations were “disgraceful slurs” on the voting process.
Mr Keith said: “We are confident that the election was well run.
“There are concerns that have been raised about postal voting, including by the Department of Constitutional Affairs. We support the DCA’s proposals to tighten up the system.
“The slurs on the integrity of the electoral process are disgraceful. The returning officer did an outstanding job in running the election.”
Mr Galloway beat Labour’s Oona King at the election, winning by 823 votes and overturning her 10,000 majority.
Ms King is due to give evidence to the election review committee next week.
