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Qassim Afzal

Defeated former Liberal Democrat councillor Qassim Afzal, who lost to Labour's Afzal Khan, has obtained sworn statements from dozens of electors claiming their votes were stolen.

Some residents say they turned up at polling booths on May 4 to find their votes had already been cast.

Others had been out of the country for as long as two years at the time of the election but their votes had been cast by post even though they had never signed a postal voting form.

In one case a man who had been living at the same address for 10 years and has voted every year found he and his family had been missed off the register without explanation.

Qassim has now approached the elections office at Manchester Town Hall and is to meet officials on Tuesday to pass on evidence which will then be submitted to police for investigation.

His stance has won support from the Labour camp where suspicions were raised during the campaign prompting them to issue a warning on Asian Sound Radio.

Qassim said: "This isn't about me wanting to be on the council. I don't care that I lost as long as I lost because people didn't want me. I don't want to lose and find I've been diddled out of it."

Meanwhile Cllr Khan said: "Action should be taken against people who have done this illegal activity. We should have free and fair elections."

A town hall spokesman said the elections office would submit any evidence to the police but any decision on invalidating the election would have to be taken by the High Court on application from a candidate.