Former Labour councillor jailed over postal vote fraud
Former Labour councillor Muhammed Hussain has been sentenced to three years and seven months imprisonment for postal voting fraud.
In May 2002, Mr Hussain was elected as councillor for Bastwell ward on Blackburn Council with a majority of 685 votes over his Conservative rival.
Sentencing on Friday, Judge Peter Openshaw declared that “The defendant has literally stolen votes.”
Mr Hussain’s supporters had gone around houses in the ward collecting postal votes and offering to complete and submit them for householders.
The 61-year old had pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the returning officer, but his defence counsel claimed in mitigation that the number of affected ballots would not have affected the outcome.
The court’s ruling comes after six Labour councillors in Birmingham were found guilty of postal vote fraud.
During that case, the judge Richard Mawrey QC warned that the protections against fraud were inadequate, and that the situation would “disgrace a banana republic”.
