A former Conservative Party candidate has been found guilty of electoral fraud in a verdict announced on the same day that the votes were totted up in the borough he might have represented.
Mohammed Navid Afzal, 41, of Whalley Road, Accrington, stood trial at Preston Crown Court last week.
After a five-day trial, Afzal was on Friday (3 May) convicted of one offence of fraud by corrupt practice in an election under the Representation of the People Act 1983.
He was standing as a candidate for Netherton ward on 5 May 2022 in local elections in Hyndburn.
Afzal submitted a nomination paper which showed 10 signatures of local voters agreeing to his nomination as candidate. The case against him was that one of those signatures was false and that Afzal knew it was false when he submitted it.
Det Con Nicolas Walker, of Lancashire Constabulary’s criminal investigations department operating in Blackburn, said: “It is vital during elections that democracy is protected.
“Lancashire Police will thoroughly investigate any claims of wrongdoing in the election process.”
At the same time the one-time Conservative Party candidate was informed of the jury’s verdict, Hyndburn delivered its own as Labour regained overall control of the council in the local elections.
Sara Britcliffe, the MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, who was present for the count, told The Hyndburn Lead in response to the results that she didn’t believe the public had lost trust in the Conservative Party but admitted she had a battle on her hands to keep her seat at the general election.
Afzal will be sentenced at Burnley Crown Court on 21 June.
We want to bring campaigning back into journalism. Lend us a hand, and get our weekly newsletter and magazine editions in your inbox, for free.
