POLICE are examining a series of claims of serious electoral fraud across London.

They are "assessing" 28 allegations, while an Evening Standard investigation has uncovered several examples of apparent irregularities in voting records in Tower Hamlets, where campaigners claim electoral fraud is taking place on an "alarming and widespread" scale.

Scotland Yard confirmed it is examining a number of complaints from residents and political groups in the borough. On a wider scale, police are looking at claims of electoral fraud in 12 boroughs but have yet to launch any criminal inquiries.

The Standard found some homes where up to 10 so-called "ghost voters" have been registered on the electoral roll without the knowledge or consent of the people who live there.

Politicians also claim activists working for local parties have been visiting homes and offering to post ballots on behalf of vulnerable residents. In other cases, it is alleged, candidates and activists have "assisted" residents in filling in their postal ballot papers.

Both practices - which can lead to vote tampering - are forbidden by the Electoral Commission code of conduct, signed up to by all the main parties.

The victims of the alleged fraud are usually Bangladeshi residents who speak little English. The Standard found two homes in Bethnal Green where, respectively, eight and 10 apparent ghost voters with Muslim names are registered for postal votes. In fact only five people live at the two properties and they know nothing of the 18 other people listed there.

At a house in Bow, 18 postal ballots were delivered yesterday but only 10 of the voters named live there. They say a Bengali-speaking man came to the door two weeks ago and told them they had to sign forms. Campaigners have raised suspicions about a further eight homes where 77 voters have been registered in recent months.

Respect MP George Galloway and Bodrul Islam, a council candidate for the party, have made formal complaints which are being assessed by the Met. Rob Hoveman, Mr Galloway's election agent, said: "They should abolish postal vote on demand altogether. Ultimately, it's democracy that suffers."

Peter Golds, leader of the Tower Hamlets Tories, said: "Here we are, going from door to door to win vote by vote. But all this is useless if 10 people here, or 12 there, are falsely registered to vote and are voting. It's really shameful." Tower Hamlets has been at the centre of postal fraud allegations before. After the 2006 local elections, it emerged that 90 residents in a Limehouse block appeared to have had their votes stolen by fraudsters who applied for postal votes in their names and arranged for the papers to be redirected.

A spokesman for the Electoral Commission said anyone suspecting postal vote irregularities must inform police, or the political parties whose members they suspect. A Tower Hamlets spokesman said: "We have done everything within our power to ensure the safety and security of postal votes.

"If there is an allegation of electoral fraud it has to be investigated by the police - the Returning Officer has no powers to investigate until after the election."

A Scotland Yard spokeswoman said: "All these complaints are being assessed. If it has been established that a crime has been committed, we will launch an investigation."

Strangers are using our addresses'

* Business student Noman Chowdhury, 22, had no fewer than 18 postal ballots drop through his letter box this week — but he doesn't recognise nearly half the names on the envelopes. He is one of 10 Bangladeshi students sharing the house in Campbell Road, Bow. A fortnight ago a man called Imtiaz came to them and, speaking in Bengali, asked them to fill in forms. Mr Chowdhury, who is eligible to vote in local elections as a Commonwealth subject, said he did not fully understand what was happening.

He told the Standard: “I don't know if he was from the council or from a political party. We just signed up, as we didn't know any better. But if we knew we had a choice, then we would have asked to go and vote at the polling station.” Mr Chowdhury, who is studying at the Commonwealth Law College in Whitechapel, said he and his housemates do not know the people named on the polling cards.

* Inge Reekmans was stunned to learn that eight strangers were registered as living at the small flat she shares with her partner Jason Loader in Bethnal Green.

The couple had no idea that the Bengali names were with theirs on the electoral roll until contacted by the Standard. Ms Reekmans, 34, who works in marketing, and Mr Loader, a 35-year-old IT worker, bought the flat nine years ago and have never heard of the eight “ghost voters” recently added to the register.

Ms Reekmans, pictured, said: “There's hardly space for the two of us here, let alone 10. We assume it must be fraud. It's outrageous that it seems so easy to scam the system. What's the point of voting if other people can cheat?” She said four postal voting forms in “ghost” names have been delivered but no one has tried to pick them up. Mr Loader has written to Tower Hamlets asking for the eight names to be taken off the register.

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